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BOTANIC GARDEN. 



BEAUTIES 



OF THE 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



WRITTEN BY DR. DARWIN. 




LONDON. 

PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, JUN. AND W. DAVIES, 
IN THE STRAND. 



1805. 






, c- r 



Gift. 
W. L. Shoemaker 
f S '06 



It* 






BEAUTIES 



GF THE 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



GENIUS OF THE GROVES. 



T AY your rude steps ! whose throbbing breasts 

infold 

The legion- fiends of glory, or of gold ! 

Stay I whose false lips seductive simpers part, 

While cunning nestles in the harlot-heart i 

For you no dryads dress the roseate bower, 

For you no nymphs their sparkling vases pour ; 

Unmarkt by you, light graces swim the green, 

And hovering cupids aim their shafts unseen. 

But thou ! whose mind the well-attempered ray 

Of taste and virtue lights with purer day \ 
A2 



» BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Whose finer sense each soft vibration owns 
With sweet responsive sympathy of tones # ; 
So the fair flower expands its lucid form 
To meet the sun, and shuts it to the storm ;— * 
For thee my borders nurse the fragrant wreath, 
My fountains murmur, and my zephyrs breathe ; 
Slow slides the painted snail, the gilded fly 
Smooths his fine down, to charm thy curious eye ; 
On twinkling fins my pearly nations play, 
Or win with sinuous train their trackless way ; 
My plumy pairs, in gay embroidery drest, 
Form, with ingenious bill, the pensile nest ; 
To love's sweet notes attune the listening dell, 
And echo sounds her soft symphonious shell. 
And, if with thee some hapless maid should stray, 
Disasterous love companion of her way, 
Oh, lead her timid steps to yonder glade, 
Whose arching cliffs depending alders shade ; 
There, as meek evening wakes her temperate breeze, 
And moon-beaxns glimmer through the trembling 

trees, 
The rills, that gurgle round, shall sooth her ear, 
The weeping rocks shall number tear for tear ; 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 7 

There, as sad Philomel, alike forlorn, 
Sings to the night from her accustomed thorn ; 
While at sweet intervals each falling note 
Sighs in the gale, and whispers round the grot j 
The sjster-woe shall calm her aching breast, 
And softer slumbers steal her cares to rest.— 
Winds of the north ! restrain your icy gales, 
Nor chili the bosom of these happy vales ! 
Hence in dark heaps, ye gathering clouds, revolve! 
Disperse, ye lightnings ! and, ye mists, dissolve ! 
—Hither, emerging from yon orient skies, 
Botanic goddess ! bend thy radiant eyes ; 
O'er these soft scenes assume thy gentle reign, 
Pomona, Ceres, Flora in thy train ; 
O'er the still dawn thy placid smile effuse, 
And with thy silver sandals print the dews ; 
In noon's bright blaze thy vermil vest unfold, 
And wave thy emerald banner starr'd with gold. 
Thus spoke the genius, as he stept along, 
And bade these lawns to peace and truth belong ; 
Down the steep slopes he led, with modest skill, 
The willing pathway, and the truant rill, 
Stretcht o'er the marshy vate yon willowy mound^ 
Where shines the lake amid the tufted ground, 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



Raised the young woodland, smoothed the wavy 

green, 
And gave to beauty all the quiet scene.-— 




BOTANIC GAB.DEJ$. 



DESCENT OF THE BOTANIC GODDESS; 



She comes !— -the goddess !— through the whis^ 
pering air, 
Bright as the morn, descends her blushing car ; 
Each circling wheel a wreath of flowers intwines, 
And gem'd with flowers the silken harness shines ; 
The golden bits with flowery studs are deckt, 
And knots of flowers the crimson reins connect.-* 
And now on earth the silver axle rings, 
And the shell sinks upon its slender springs ; 
Light from her airy seat the goddess bounds, 
And steps celestial press the pansied grounds. 
Fair spring advancing calls her feathered quire, 
And tunes to softer notes her laughing lyre $ 
Bids her gay hours on purple pinions move, 
And arms her zephyrs with the shafts of love* 



10 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Pleased gnomes,* ascending from their earthy teds, 
Play round her graceful footsteps, as she treads ; 
Gay sylphs attendant beat the fragrant air 
On winnowing wings, and waft her golden hair ; 
Blue nymphs emerging leave their sparkling streams, 
And fiery forma alight from orient beams ; 
Muskt in the rose's lap fresh dews they shed, 
Or breathe celestial lustres round her head. 
First the fine forms her dulcet voice requires 
Which bathe or bask in elemental fires ; 
From each bright gem of day's refulgent car ? 
From the pale sphere of every twinkling star, 
From each nice pore of ocean, earth, and air, 
With eye of flame the sparkling hosts repair, 
Mix their gay hues, in changeful circles play, 
Like motes, that tenant the meridian ray.— 



* Therosicrucian doctrine of gnomes, sylphs, nymphs 
and salamanders, affords proper machinery tor a philoso- 
phic poem ; as it is probable that they were originally 
the names of hieroglyphic figures of the elements, or of 
genii presiding over their operations. The fairies of more 
modern days seem to have been derived from them, and 
to have inherited their powers. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



11 



So the clear lens collects, with magic power, 
The countless glories of the midnight hour ; ■ 
Stars after stars, with quivering lustre fall, 
And twinkling glide along the whiten'd wall.— « 
Pleased, as they pass, she counts the glittering bands 3 
And stills their murmur with her waving hands ; 
Each listening tribe with fond expectance burns, 
And now to these, and now to those, she turns* 




15 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



CREATION, 



*H Let 1 there be light ! proclaimed the dlmighty 

LORD, 

Astonisht chaos heard the potent word ;— 
Through all his realms the kindling ether runs. 
And the mass starts into a million suns ; 
Earths round each sun with quick explosions burst; 
And second planets issue from the first ; 
Bend, as they journey with projectile force, 
In bright ellipses their reluctant course ; 
Orbs wheel in orbs, round centers centers rollf 
And form self ballanced, one revolving whole. 
—•Onward they move amid their bright abode, 
Space without bound, the bosom of their god ! 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 13 



FIRE NYMPHS EMPLOY. 



Ethereal flowers I you chase the shooting stars. 
Or yoke the vollied lightnings to your cars, 
Cling round the aerial bow with prisms bright, 
And, pleased, untwist the sevenfold threads of light \ 
Eve's silken couch with gorgeous tints adorn, 
And fire the arrowy throne of rising morn. 
— Or, plumed with flame, in gay battalions springy 
To brighter regions borne on broader wing ; 
Where lighter gases, circumfused on high, 
Form the vast concave of exterior sky : 
With airy lens the scatter'd rays assault, 
And bend the twilight round the dusky vault ; 
Ride, with broad eys and scintillating hair, 
The rapid fire-ball through the midnight air - 7 
Dart from the north on pale electric streams, 
Fringing nights sable robe with transient beams. 



14 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



—Or rein the planets in their swift careers, 
Gliding with borrow'd light their twinkling spheres; 
Alarm with comet-blaze the sapphire plain, 
The wan stars glimmering through its silver train ; 
Gem the bright zodiac, stud the glowing pole$ 
Or give the sun's phlogistic orb to roll. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 15 



VENUS VISITING VULCAN. 



Thus, when of old, as mystic bards presume, 
Huge cyclofs dwelt in Etna's rocky womb, 
On thundering anvils rung their loud alarms, 
And leagued with vulcan forged immortal arms ; 
Descending venus sought the dark abode- 
And soothed the labors of the grisly god. 
While frowning loves the threatening falchion wield, 
And tittering graces peep behind the shield, 
With jointed mail their fairy limbs o'erwhelm., 
Or nod with pausing step the plumed helm ; 
With radient eye she viewed the boiling ore, 
Heard undismay'd the breathing bellows roar, 
Admired their sinewy arms, and shoulders bare, 
And ponderous hammers lifted high in air, 
With smiles celestial blest their dazzled sight, 
And beauty blazed amid infernal night. 



16 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



MEMNON'S STATUE. 



So to the sacred sun in memnon's fane, 
Spontaneous concords quired the matin strain ; 
*— Toucht by his orient beam, responsive rings 
The living lyre, and vibrates all its strings ; 
Accordant ailes the tender tones prolong, 
And holy echoes swell the adoring song. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 17 



GUN POWDER. 



You taught mysterious bacon to explore 
Metallic veins, and part the dross from ore ; 
With sylvan coal in whirling mills'combine 
The crystal'd nitre, and the sulphurous mine ; 
Through wiry nets the black diffusion strain, 
And close an airy ocean in a grain.— 
Pent in dark chambers of cylindric brass, 
Slumbers in grim repose the sooty mass ; 
Lit by the brilliant spark, from grain to grain 
Runs the quick fire along the kindling train ; 
On the pain'd ear-drum bursts the sudden crash, 
Starts the red flame, and death pursues the flash.-— 
Fear's' feeble hand directs the fiery darts, 
And strength and courage yield to chymic arts ; 
Guilt with pale brow the mimic thunder owns, 
And tyrants tremble on their blood-stain'd thrones. 



B2 



18 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



FRANKLIN DISARMS THE TEMPEST. 



You led your franklin to your glazed retreats, 
Your air-built castles, and your silken seats ; 
Bade his bold arm invade the lowering sky, 
And seize the tip-toe lightnings ere they fly ; 
O'er the young sage your mystic mantle spread, 
And wreath'd the crown electric round his head. — - 
Thus, when on wanton wing intrepid Love 
Snatcht the raised lightning from the arm of jove ; 
Quick o'er his knee the triple bolt he bent, 
The cluster'd darts and forky arrows rent, 
Snapt with illumined hands each naming shaft, 
His tingling fingers shook, and stampt, andlaught; 
Bright o'er the fioor the scatter'd fragments blazed, 
And gods, retreating, trembled as they gazed ; 
The immortal sire, indulgent to his child, 
Bow'd his ambrosial locks, and heaven, relenting* 

Smiled. 



EOTANIC GARDEN. 29 



LABORS OF HERCULES. 



So mighty HERCULES o'er many a clime 
Waved his vast mace in virtue's cause sublime, 
Unmeasured strength with early art combined, 
Awed, served, protected, and amazed mankind — . 
First two dread snakes, at juno's vengeful nod, 
Climb'd round the cradle of the Sleeping god ; 
Waked by the shrilling hiss and rustling sound, 
And shrieks of fair attendants trembling round, 
Their gasping throats with clenching hands he 

holds, 
And death untwists their convoluted folds. 
Next in red torrents from her sevenfold heads 
Fell hydra's blood on Lema's lake he sheds ; 
Grasps achelous with resistless force, 
And drags the roaring river to his course ; 
Binds with loud bellowing and with hideous yell, 
The monster bull, and threefold dog of hell. 
Then where Nemea's howling forests wave* 
ile drives the lion to his dusky cave ; 



20 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Seized by the throat, the growling fiend disarm^, 
And tears his gaping jaws with sinewy arms ; 
Lifts proud antjeus from his mother-plains, 
And with strong grasp the struggling giant strains ; 
Back falls his fainting head, and clammy hair, 
Writhe his weak limbs, and flits his life in air ; — 
By steps reverted, o'er the bJood-dropt fen 
He tracks huge caucus to his murderous den ; 
Where breathing flames through brazen lips he fled. 
And shakes the rock-rooft cavern o'er his head. 
Last with wide arms the solid earth he tears, 
Piles rock on rock, on mountain mountain rears ; 
Heaves up huge Abyla on Afric's sand, 
Crowns with high Calfie Europe's salient strand ; 
Crests with opposing towers the splendid scene, 
And pours from urns immense the sea between.—- 
* — Loud o'er her whirling flood Charibdis roars* 
Affrighted Scylla bellows round his shores ; 
Vesuvio groans through all his echoing caves, 
And Etna thunders o'er the insurgent waves. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 21 



ELECTRICITY. 



JVtmphs ! your fine hands ethereal floods amas,s 
From the warm cushion, and the whirling glass ; 
Beard the bright cylinder with golden wire, 
And circumfuse the gravitating fire. 
Cold from each poinjt cerulean lustres gleam, 
Or shoot in air the scintillating stream. 
So, borne on brazen talons, watcht of old 
The sleepless dragon o'er his fruits of gold ; 
Bright beam'd his scales, his eye-balls blazed with 

ire, 
And his wide nostrils breathed inchanted fire. 
You bid gold leaves, in crystal lantherns held, 
Approach attracted, and recede repelFd ; 
While paper-nymphs instinct with motion rise, 
And dancing fauns the admiring sage surprize. 
Or^ if on wax some fearless beauty stand, 
And touch the sparkling rod with graceful hand ; 



22 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Through her fine limbs the mimic lightnings dart, 
And flames innocuous eddy round her heart ; 
O'er her fair brow the kindling lustres glare. 
Blue rays diverging from the bristling hair ; 
While some fond youth the kiss ethereal sips, 
And soft fires issue from their meeting lips. 
So round the virgin saint in silver streams 
The holy halo shoots its arrowy beams. 
You croud in coated jars the denser fire, 
Pierce the thin glass ; and fuse the blazing wire ; 
Or dart the red flash through the circling band 
Of youths and timorous damsels, hand in hand, 
— Starts the quick ether through the fibre-trains 
Of dancing arteries, and of tingling veins, 
Goads each fine nerve, with new sensation thrill'd* 
Bends the reluctant limbs with power unwilPd ; 
Palsey's cold hands the fierce concussion own, 
And life clings trembling on her tottering throne. 
So from dark clouds the playful lightning springs, 
Rives the firm oak, or prints the fairy-rings. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 25 



WOUNDED WHALE- 



So when enormous grampus, issuing fortft 
From the pale regions of the icy north, 
Waves his broad tail, and opes his ribbed mouthy 
And seeks on winnowing fin the breezy south ; 
From towns deserted rush the breathless hosts, 
Swarm round the hills, and darken all the coasts ; 
Boats follow boats along the shouting tides, 
And spears and javelins pierce his blubbery sides ; 
Now the bold sailor, raised on pointed toe, 
Whirls the wing'd harpoon on the slimy foe ;■ 
Quick sinks the monster in his oozy bed, 
The blood stain'd surges circling o'er his head. 
Steers to the frozen pole his wonted track, 
u\nd bears the iron tempest on his back. 



24 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



JUPITER AND SEMELE* 



With crest of gold should sultry syrius glare^ 
And with his kindling tresses scorch the air ; 
With points of flame the shafts of summer arm, 
And burn the beauties he designs to warm :-— 
So erst when jove his oath extorted mourn'd, 
And, clad in glory, to the fair return'd ; 
While loves at forky bolts their torches light, 
And resting lightnings gild the car of night ; 
His blazing form the dazzled maid admired, 
Met with fond lips, and in his arms expire*^ 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 25 



PROPHET ELIJAH. 



Thus when Elijah mark'd from Carmel's brow 
In bright expanse the briny flood below ; 
Roll'd his red eyes amid the scorching air, 
Smote his firm breast, and breathed his ardent prayer ; 
High in the "midst a massy altar stood, 
And slaughterd offerings prest the piles of wood; 
While Israel's chiefs the sacred hill surround, 
And famisht armies croud the dusty ground ; 
While proud idolatry was leagued with dearth, 
And wither'd famine swept the desart earth.-— 

* OA, mighty lord ! thy woe-worn servant hear, 
" Who calls thy name in agony of prayer ; 

« Thy fanes dishonor'd and thy prophets slain* 
" Lo I I alone survive of all thy train .!— . 
" Oh send from heaven thy sacred fire — and poutf 
" O'er the parcht land the salutary shower, — 

* So shall thy priest thy erring flock recaV— 
<c And speak in thunder, Thou art lord of all" 



26 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

He cried, and kneeling on the mountain-sands, 
Stretcht high in air his supplicating hands. 
• — Descending flames the dusky shrine illume j 
Fire the wet wood, the sacred bull consume ; 
Wing'd from the sea the gathering mists arise, 
And floating waters darken all the skies ; 
The king, with shifted reins, his chariot bends, 
And wide o'er earth the airy flood descends ; 
With mingling cries dispersing hosts applaud, 
And shouting nations own the living gob. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 27 



BIRTH OF VENUS. 

So young dione, nurst beneath the waves, 
And rockt by nereids in their coral caves, 
Charm'd the blue sisterhood with playful wiles, 
Lispt her sweet tones, and tried her tender smiles. 
Then, on her beryl throne, by triton's borne, 
Bright rose the goddess like the star of morn ; 
When with soft fires the milky dawn he leads, 
And wakes to life and love the laughing meads ;~ 
With rosy fingers, as uncurFd they hung 
Round her fair brow, her golden locks she wrung ; 
O'er the smooth surge on silver sandals stood, 

And looked inchantment on the dazzled flood 

The bright drops rolling from her lifted arms, 
In slow meanders wander o'er her charms, 
Seek round her snowy neck their lucid track, 
Pearl her white shoulders, gem her ivory back, 
Round her fine waist and swelling bosom swim, 
And star with glittering brine each crystal limb.-— 
The immortal form enamored nature hailed, 
j\nd beauty blazed to heaven and earth, unveiled. 



2& BOTANIC GARDEX. 



FIRE-WORKS. 



The goddess ceast — the exulting tribes obey, 
Start from the soil, and win their airy way ; 
The vaulted skies, with streams of transient rays, 
Shine, as they pass, and earth and ocean blaze. 
So from fierce wars, when lawless monarchs cease, 
Or liberty returns with laurel'd peace, 
Bright fly the sparks, the color'd lustres burn, 
Flash follows flash, and flame-wing'd circles turn ; 
Blue serpents sweep along the dusky air, 
ImpM by long trains of scintillating hair ; 
Red rockets rise, loud cracks are heard on high* 
And showers of stars rush headlong from the sky, 
Burst, as in silver lines they hiss along, 
And the quick flash unfolds the gazing throng, 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 29 



GNOMES. 



And now the goddess, with attention sweet, 

Turns to the gnomes that circle round her feet ; 

Orb within orb approach the marshal'd trains, 

And pigmy legions darken all the plains ; 

Thrice shout, with silver tones, the applauding bands? 

Bow, e'er she speaks, and clap their fairy hands. 

So the tall grass, when noon-tide zephyr blows. 

Bends its green blades in undulating rows ; 

Wide o'er the fields the billowy tumult spreads. 

And rustling harvests bow their golden heads. 

Gnomes, your bright forms, presiding at her birth, 

Clung in fond squadrons round the new-born earth ; 

When high in ether, with explosion dire, 

From the deep craters of his realms of fire, 

The whirling sun this ponderous planet hurl'd, 

And gave the astonisht void another world, 
c2 



30 BOTANIC GARnEN> 

When from its vaporous air, condenst by cold, 
Descending torrents into oceans rolFd ; 
And fierce attraction, with relentless force, 
Bent the reluctant wanderer to its course. 
You trod, with printless step, earth's tender globe, 
While ocean wrapt it in his azure robe. 
Beneath his waves her hardening strata spread, 
Raised her primeval islands from his bed, 
Stretcht her wide lawns, and sunk her winding dells,, 
And deckt her shores with corals, pearls and shells. 
O'er those blest isles no ice-crown'd mountains 

tower'd, 
No lightnings darted, and no tempests lower'd \ 
Soft fell the vesper-drops, condenst below, 
Or bent in air the rain refracted bow ; 
Sweet breathed the zephyrs, just perceived and lost, 
And brineless billows only kist the coast ; 
Round the bright zodiac danced the vernal hours, 
And peace, the cherub, dwelt in mortal bowers-. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. Si 



SALT MINES. 



Thus, cavern'd round in cracow's mighty- 
mines,* 
With crystal walls a gorgeous city shines; 
Scoopt in the briny rock long streets extend 
Their hoary course, and glittering domes ascend ; 
Down the bright steeps, emerging into day, 
Impetuous fountains burst their headlong way, 



* There is a town in the immense salt-mines of Cra- 
cow, in Poland, with a market-place, a river, a church, 
and a famous statue, (there supposed to be of Lot's wife) 
by the moist or dry appearance of which the subterrane- 
an inhabitants are said to know when the weather is fair 
above ground. The galleries in these mines are so nu- 
merous and so intricate, that workmen have frequently 
lost their way, their lights having been burnt out, and 
have perished before they could be found. £ssais> &c. 
par M. Macquart. 



32 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

O'er milk-white vales in ivory channels spread, 
And wandering, seek their subterraneous bed^ 
Form'd in pellucid salt, with chissel nice, 
The pale lamp glimmering through the sculptured 

ice, 
With wild reverted eyes fair lotta stands, 
And spreads to heaven, in vain, her glassy hands ; 
Cold dews condense upon her pearly breast, 
And the big tear rolls lucid down her vest. 
Far gleaming o'er the town transparent fanes 
Rear their white towers, and wave their golden 

vanes ; 
Long lines of lustres pour their trembling rays, 
And the bright v^ult returns the mingled blase. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



MARS AND VENUS. 



So beauty's goddess^ warm with new desire, 
Left on her silver wheels, the god of fire ; 
Her faithful charms to fiercer mars resigned, 
Met with fond lips, with wanton arms entwined. 
—Indignant vulcan eyed the parting fair, 
And watcht, with jealous step, the guilty pair; 
O'er his broad neck a wiry net he flung, 
Quick as he strode, the tinkling meshes rung ; 
Fine as the spider's flimsy thread he wove 
The immortal toil to lime illicit love ; 
Steel were the knots, and steel the twisted thong, 
Ring linkt in ring, indissolubly strong ; 
On viewless hooks, along the fretted roof, 
He hung, unseen, the inextricable woof. — 
—Quick start the springs, the webs pellucid spread, 
And lock the embracing lovers on their bed ; 



34 BOTANfC GARDEN. 

Fierce with loud taunts vindictive vulcan springs,, 
Tries all the bolts, and tightens all the strings, 
Shakes, with incessant shouts, the bright abodes, 
Claps his rude hands, and calls the festive gods.— 
. — With spreading palms the alarmed goddess tries 
To veil her beauties from celestial eyes, 
Writhes her fair limbs, the slender ringlets strains 
And bids her loves untie the obdurate chains j 
Soft swells her panting bosom, as she turns, 
And her flusht cheek with brighter blushes bums. 
Majestic grief the queen of heaven avows, 
And chaste miner v a hides her helmed brows ; 
Attendant nymphs, with bashful eyes askance, 
Steal of intangled mars a transient glance ; 
Surrounding gods the circling nectar quaff, 
Gaze on the fair, and envy as they laugh. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 35 



PRECIOUS GEMS, 



Hencb in fine streams diffusive acids flow. 
Or wing'd with fire o'er earth's fair bosom blow ; 
Transmute to glittering flints her chalky lands, 
Or sink on ocean's bed in countless sands. 
Hence silvery selenite her crystal moulds, 
And soft asbestos smooths his silky folds j 
His cubic forms phosphoric fluor prints, 
Or rays in spheres his amethystine tints. 
Soft cobweb clouds transparent onyx spreads, 
And playful agates weave their color'd threads ; 
Gay pictured mochoes glow with landscape-dies, 
And changeful opals roll their lucid eyes ; 
Blue lambent light arround the sapphire plays, 
Bright rubies blifsh, and living .diamonds blaze; 



&§ BOTANIC GARDEN, 



FRANKLIN. 



-—Led by the phosphor-light, with daring tread 
Immortal franklin sought the fiery bed ; 
Where, nurst in night, incumbent tempest shrouds 
His embryon thunders in circumfluent clouds, 
Besieged with iron points their airy cell, 
And pierced the monsters slumbering in the shell. 
So, borne on sounding pinions to the west. 
When tyrant-power had built his eagle nest ; 
While from his eyry shriekt the famisht brood, 
Clencht their sharp claws, and champt their beaks 

for blood? 
Immortal franklin watcht the callow crew, 
And stabb'd the struggling vampires, ere they flew. 
— ^The patriot-flame with quick contagion r#n, 
Hill lighted hill, and man electrized man ; 
Her heroes slain, awhile Columbia mourn'd, 
And, crown'd with laurels, liberty returned. 



BOTANIC GARBEX. 37 



LIBERTY. 



The warrior, liberty, with bending sails, 
Helm'd his bold course to fair hiberxia's vales ;— 
Firm as he steps along the shouting lands, 
Lo ! truth and virtue range their radiant bands ; 
Sad superstition wails her empire torn, 
Art plies his oar, and commerce pours her horn. 
Long had the giant-form, on gallia's plains, 
Inglorious slept, unconscious of his chains ; 
Round his large limbs were wound a thousand string, 
By the weak hands of confessors and kings ; 
O'er his closed eyes a triple veil was bound, 
And steely rivets lockt him to the ground ; 
While stern Bastile with iron cage inthrals 
His folded limbs, and hems in marble walls. 
— Toucht by the patriot-flame, he rent, amazed, 
The flimsey bonds, and round and round him gazed ; 
Starts up from earth, above the admiring throng 
Lifts his colossal form, and towers along ; 



38 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

High o'er his foes his hundred arms he rears, 
Plowshares his swords, and pruning-hooks his spears; 
Calls to the good and brave with voice, that rolls 
Like heaven's own thunder round the echoing poles ; 
Gives to the winds his banner broad unfurl'd, 
And gathers in its shade the living world ! 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 39 



JUPITER'S AMOURS. 



Thus for attractive earth, inconstant jove, 
Maskt in new shapes, forsook his realms above. 
First her sweet eyes his eagle-form beguiles, 
And hebe feeds him with ambrosial smiles ; 
Next the changed god a cygnet's down assumes, 
And playful leda smoothes his glossy plumes ; 
Then slides a silvery serpent, treacherous gu'est ! 
And fair olympia folds him in her breast; 
Now lows a milk-white bull on Afric's strand, 
And crops with dancing head the dasied land.— 
With rosy wreathes europa's hand adorns 
His fringed forehead, and his pearly horns ; 
Light on his back the sportive damsel bounds* 
And pleased he moves along the flowery grounds ; 
Bears with slow step his beauteous prize aloof, 
Dips in the lucid flood his ivory hoof ; 
Then wets his velvet knees, and wading laves, 
Jiis silky sides amid the dimpling waves. 



40 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

While her fond train with beckoning hands deplore. 
Strain their blue eyes, and shriek along the shore j 
Beneath her robe she draws her snowy feet. 
And, half-reclining on her ermine seat, 
Round his raised neck her radiant arms she throws, 
And rests her fair cheek on his curled brows ; 
Her yellow tresses wave on wanton gales, 
And bent in air her azure mantle sails. 
—Onward he moves, applauding cupids guide.. 
And skim on shooting wing the shining tide ; 
Emerging tritons leave their coral caves, 
Sound their loud conchs, and smooth the circling 

waves, 
Surround the timorous beauty, as she swims, 
And gaze enamored on her silver limbs. 
Now Europe's shadowy shores, with loud acclaim, 
Hail the fair fugitive, and shout her name ; 
Soft echoes warble, whispering forests nod, 
And conscious nature owns the present God. 
Changed from the bull, the rapturous god assumes 
Immortal youth, with glow celestial blooms, 
With lenient words her virgin fears disarms, 
And clasps the yielding beauty in his arms. 



BOTANIC GARDEN, 41 



SLAVE TRADE. 



Heavens ! on my sight what sanguine colors 
blaze 1 
Spain's deathless shame ! the crimes of modern 

days 1 

When avarice, shrouded in religion's robe, 

Sailed to the west, and slaughtered half the globe ; 

While superstition, stalking by his side, 

Mockt the loud groan, and lapt the bloody tide ; 

For sacred truths announced her frenzied dreams, 

And turned to night the sun's meridian beams.-— 

Hear, oh Britannia I potent queen of isles, 

On whom fair art, and meek religion smiles, 

Now afric's coasts thy craftier son's invade, 

And theft and murder take the garb of trade I 

— The slave, in chains, on Supplicating knee, 

Spreads his wide arms, and lifts his eyes to thee ; 

With hunger pale, with wounds and toil opprest, 

" Are we not brethren .?" sorrow choaks the rest ; 

— Air ! bear to heaven upon thy azure flood, 

Their innocent cries 1 — earth 1 cover not their blood I 
d 2 



42 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



ALPINE RIVERS. 



Where with chill frown enormous Alps alarms 
A thousand realms, horizoned in his arms ; 
While cloudless suns meridian glories shed 
From skies of silver round his hoary head, 
Tall rocks of ice refract the colored rays, 
And frost sits throned amid the lambent blaze ; 
Nymphs I your thin forms pervade his glittering 

piles, 
His roofs of crystal, and his glassy ailes ; 
Where in cold caves imprisoned Naiads sleep, 
Or chain'd on mossy couches wake and weep ; 
Where round dark crags indignant waters bend 
Through rifted ice, in ivory veins descend, 
Seek through unfathom'd snows their devious track, 
Heave the vast spars, the ribbed granites crack, 
Rush into day, in foamy torrents shine, 
And swell the imperial Danube and the Rhine. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 43 



CAMBYSES' ARMY DESTROYED. 



When heaven's dread justice smites in crimes o'er- 

grown. 
The blood-nurst tyrant on his purple throne, 
Gnomes ! your bold forms unnumbered arms out. 

stretch, 
And urge the vengeance o'er the guilty wretch. 
Thus when cambyses led his barbarous hosts 
From Persia's rocks, to Egypt's trembling coasts, 
Denied each hallow'd fane, and sacred wood, 
And, drunk with fury, swelled the Nile with blood; 
Waved his proud banner o'er the theban states, 
And poured destruction through her hundred gates ; 
In dread divisions marched the marshaled bands, 
And swarming armies blackened all the lands, 
By Memphis these to ethiop's sultry plains, 
And those to hammon's sand-incircled fanes. — 
Slow as they pass'd, the indignant temples frown'd, 
Low curses muttering from the vaulted ground \ 



4-1 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Long ailes of cypress waved their deepened glooms ; 
And quivering spectres grinn'd amid the tombs, 
Prophetic whispers breathed from sphinx's tongue* 
And memnon's lyre with hollow murmurs rung ; 
Burst from each pyramid expiring groans, 
And darker shadows stretcht their lengthen'd cones. 
Day after day their dreadful rout they steer, 
Lust in the van, and rapine in the rear. 
Gnomes ! as they marcht, you hid the gather'd fruits, 
The bladed grass, sweet grains, and mealy roots ; 
Scared the tired quails, that journied o'er their heads, 
Retain'd the locusts in their earthy beds ; 
Bade on your sands no night-born dews distil, 
Stay'd with vindictive hands the scanty rill.— 
Loud o'er the camp the fiend of famine shrieks, 
Calls all her brood, and champs her hundred beaks ; 
O'er ten square leagues her pennons broad expand, 
And twilight swims upon the shuddering sand ; 
Percht on her crest the griffin discord clings, 
And giant murder rides between her wings ; 
Blood from each clotted hair, and horny quill, 
And showers of tears in blended streams distil ; 
Jligh-pbised in air her spicy neck she bends, 
Rolls her keen eye, her dragon-claws extends^ 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 45 

Darts from above, and tears at each fell swoop 

With iron fangs the decimated troop. 

Now o'er their heads the whizzing whirlwinds 

breathe, 
And the live desert pants, and heaves beneath ; 
Tinged by the crimson sun, vast columns rise 
Of eddying sands, and war amid the skies, 
In red arcades the billowy plain surround, 
And whirling turrets stalk along the ground. 
— Long ranks in vain their shining blades extend, 
To demon-gods their knees unhallowed bend, 
Wheel in wide circle, form in hollow square, 
And now they front, and now they fly the war, 
Pierce the deaf tempest with lamenting cries, 
Prest their parcht lips, and close their blood-shot 

eyes. 
-—Gnomes! o'er the waste you led your myriad 

powers, 
Climb'd on the whirls, and aim'd the flinty showers ! 
— Onward resistless rolls the infuriate surge, 
Clouds follow clouds, and mountains mountains 

urge; 



46 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Wave over wave the driving desert swims, 
Bursts o'er their heads, inhumes their struggling 

limbs ; 
Man mounts on man, on camels camels rush, 
Hosts march o'er hosts, and nations nations crush, — 
Wheeling in air the winged islands fall, 
And one great earthy ocean covers all ! — 
Then ceased the storm, — night bow'd his ethiop brow 
To earth, and listen'd to the groans below,—. 
Grim horror shook, — awhile the living hill 
Heaved with convulsive throes, — and all was still I 




BOTANIC GARDEN 47 



DEATH OF ADONIS. 



So when on Lebanon's sequester'd height 
The fair adonis left the realms of light, 
Bow'd his bright locks, and, fated from his birth 
To change eternal, mingled with the earth ; — 
With darker horror shook the conscious wood, 
Groan'd the sad gales, and rivers bj&sht with blood; 
On cypress^boughs the loves their quivers hung, 
Their arrows scattered, and their bows unstrung ; 
And beauty *s goddess, bending o'er his bier, 
Breathed the soft sigh, and pour'd the tender tear.— 
Admiring proserpine through dusky glades 
Led the fair phantom to elysian shades, 
Clad with new form, with liner sense combined, 
And lit with purer flame the ethereal mind. 
— Erewhile, emerging from infernal night, 
The bright assurgent rises into light, 
Leaves the drear chambers of the insatiate tomb, 
And shines and charms with renovated bloom.— 



48 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



While wondering loves the bursting grave surround, 
And edge with meeting wings the yawning ground, 
Stretch their fair necks, and leaning o'er the brink, 
View the pale regions of the dead, and shrink ; 
Long with broad eyes ecstatic beauty stands, 
Heaves her white bosom, spreads her waxen hands ; 
Then with loud shriek the panting youth alarms, 
" My life ! my love i" and springs into his arms. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 49 



FAIRIES BATHING. 



Hither in sportive bands bright devon leads 
Graces and loves from Chats worth's flowery meads. 
Charm'd round the nymph, they climb the rifted 

rocks ; 
And steep in mountain-mist their golden locks ; 
On ventrous step her sparry caves explore, 
iVnd light with radiant eyes her realms of ore : 
— Oft by her bubbling founts, and shadowy domes. 
In gay undress the fairy legion roams, 
Their dripping palms in playful malice fill, 
Or taste with ruby lip the sparkling rill ; 
Crowd round her baths, and, bending o'er the side, 
Unclaspt their sandals, and their zones untied, 
Dip with gay fear the shuddering foot undrest. 
And quick retract it to the fringed vest ; 
Or cleave with brandisht arms the lucid stream. 
And sob, their blue eyes twinkling in the stream. 

E 



50 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



—High o'er the checker'd vault with transient glo\f 
Bright lustres dart, as dash the waves below; 
And echo's sweet responsive voice prolongs 
The dulcet tumult of their silver tongues. — 
O'er their flusht cheeks uncurling tresses fiow, 
And dew-drops glitter on their necks of snow ; 
Round each fair nymph her dropping mantle clings, 
And loves emerging shake their showery wings. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 51 



JUPITER AND JUNO. 



So, robed by beauty's queen, with softer charms 
Saturnia wooed the thunderer to her arms ; 
O'er her fair limbs a veil of light she spread, 
And bound a starry diadem on her head ; 
Long braids of pearl her golden tresses graced, 
And the charm'dcEsxus sparkled round her waist. 
— Raised o'er the woof, by beauty's hand inwrought, 
Breathes the ' soft sigh, and glows the enamored 

thought ; 
Vows on light wings succeed, and quivered wiles, 
Assuasive accents, and seductive smiles. 
— Slow rolls the cyprian car in purple pride, 
And, steered by love, ascends admiring Ide ; 
Climbs the green slopes, the nodding woods per- 
vades, 
Burns round the rocks, or gleams amid the shades. 
~ Glad zephyr leads the van, and waves above 
The barbed darts, and blazing torch of love j 



52 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Reverts his smiling face, and pausing flings 

Soft showers of roses from aurelian wings. 

Delighted fawns, in wreaths of flowers arrayed, 

With tip-toe wood-boys beat the checkered glade ; 

Alarmed naiads, rising into air, 

Lift o'er their silver urns their leafy hair ; 

Each to her oak the bashful dryads shrink, 

And azure eyes are seen at every chink. 

— Love culls a flaming shaft of broadest wing, 

And rests the fork upon the quivering string ; 

Points his arch eye ajoft, with fingers strong 

Draws to his curl'd ear the silken throng ; 

Loud twangs the steel, the golden arrow flies, 

Trails a long line of lustre through the skies ; 

" Tis done !" he shouts, " the mighty monarch 

feels !" 
And with loud laughter shakes the silver wheels ; 
Bends o'er the car, and whirling as it moves, 
His loosened bowstring, drives the rising doves. 
Pierced on his throne the starting thunderer turns 
Melts with soft sighs, with kindling rapture burns ; 
Clasps her fair hand, and eyes in fond amaze 
The bright intruder with enamored gaze. 



BOTANIC GARDEN 



53 



" And leaves my goddess, like a blooming bride, 
" The fanes of Argos for the rocks of Ide ? 
Ci Her gorgeous palaces, and amarinth bowers, 
" For cliff-tppt mountains, and aerial towers I 97 
He said ; and, leading from her ivory seat 
The blushing beauty to his lone retreat, 
Curtain'd with night the couch imperial shrouds© 
And rests the crimson cushions upon clouds.— 
Earth feels the grateful influence from above, 
Sighs the soft air, and ocean murmurs love ; 
Ethereal warmth expands his brooding wing, 
And in still showers descends the genial spring. 




e 2 



54 BOTANIC GARDEN, 



CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD. 



So from the heart the sanguine stream distils 
O'er beauty's radiant shrine in vermil rills, 
Feeds each fine nerve, each slender hair pervades, 
The skin's bright snow with living purple shades, 
Each dimpling cheek with w r armer blushes dyes, 
Laughs on the lips, and lightens in the eyes. 
— Erewhile absorb'd, the vagrant globules swim 
From each fair feature, and proportioned limb, 
Join'd in one trunk with deeper tint return 
To the warm concave of the vital urn. 



BOTANIC GARDEN* 55 



WATER NYMPHS. 



A'rMPiis of aquatic taste ! whose placid smile 
Breathes sweet inchantment o'er Britannia's isle ; 
Whose sportive touch in showers resplendent flings 
Her lucid cataracts, and her bubbling springs ; 
Through peopled vales the liquid silver guides, 
And swells in bright expanse her freighted tides. 
You with nice ear, in tiptoe trains, pervade 
Dim walks of morn or evening's silent shade ; 
Join the lone nightingale, her woods among, 
And roll your rills symphonious to her song ; 
Through fount-full dells, and wave-worn valleys 

move, 
And tune their echoing waterfalls to love ; 
Or catch, attentive to the distant roar, 
The pausing murmurs of the dashing shore j 
Or, as aloud she pours her liquid strain, 
Pursue the nereid on the twilight main. 



56 BOTANIC GARDEN* 

« — Her playful sea-horse wooes her soft commands. 
Turns his quick ears, his webbed claws expands, 
His w T atery way with waving volutes wins, 
Or listening iibrates on unmoving fins. 
The nymph emerging mounts her scaly seat, 
Hangs o'er his glossy sides her silver feet, 
With snow-white hands her arching veil detains, 
Gives to his slimy lips the slackened reins, 
Lifts to the star of Eve her eye serene, 
And chants the birth of beauty's radiant queen. 
O'er her fair brow her pearly comb unfurls 
Her beryl locks, and parts the waving curls, 
Each tangled braid with glistening teeth unbinds, 
And with the floating treasure musks the winds. — 
Thrilled by the dulcet accents, as she sings, 
The rippling wave in widening circles rings ; 
Night's shadowy forms along the margin gleam 
With pointed ears, or dance upon the stream ; 
The moon transported stays her bright career, 
And maddening stars shoot headlong from tht 
sphere. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 57 



MILCENA'S TOMB. 



lymphs I whose fair eyes with vivid lustres glow 
For human weal, and melt at human woe ; 
Late as you floated on your silver shells, 
Sorrowing and slow by derwent's willowy dells ; 
Where by tall groves his foamy flood he steers 
Through pondrous arches o'er impetuous wears, 
By derby's shadowy towers reflective sweeps, 
And gothic grandeur chills his dusky deeps ; 
You pearl'd with pity's drops his velvet sides, 
Sigh'd in his gales, and murmur'd in his tides, 
Wa^d o'er his fringed brink a deeper gloom, 
And bow'd his alders o'er milcena's tomb. 
Oft with sweet voice she led her infant-train, 
Printing with graceful step his spangled plain, 
Explored his twinkling swarms, that swim or fly, 
And markt his florets with botanic eye. — 
" Sweet bud of spring 1 how frail thy transient bloom, 
" Fine film," she cried, " of nature's fairest loom ! 



58 BOTANIC GARDEN, 

" Soon beauty fades upon its damask throne 1— 
—Unconscious of the worm, that mined her own ! 
-—Pale are those lips, where soft caresses hung, 
Wan the warm cheek, and mute the tender tongue, 
Cold rests that feeling heart on derwent's shore, 
And those love-lighted eye-balls roll no more I 
Here her sad consort, stealing through the gloom 
Of murmuring cloysters, gazes on her tomb ; 
Hangs in mute anguish o'er the scutcheon'd hearse. 
Or graves with trembling style the votive verse. 

" Sexton ! oh, lay beneath this sacred shrine, 

" When time's cold hand shall close my aching 

eyes, 
« Oh, gently lay this wearied earth of mine, 

" Where wrapt in night my loved milcena lies. 

« So shall with purer joy my spirit move 

« When the last trumpet thrills the caves of death, 

" Catch the first whispers of my waking love, 
« And drink with holy kiss her kindling breath. 

« The spotless fair, with blush ethereal warm, 
" Shall hail with sweeter smile returning day, 

to Rise from her marble bed a brighter form, 
tf An4 win on buoyant step her airy way. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



59 



« Shall bend approved, where beckoning hosts invite, 
" On clouds of silver, her adoring knee, 

M Approach with seraphim the throne of light, 
" — And beauty plead with angel4ongue for me!" 




60 BOTANIC GARDEN* 



DREADFUL EFFECTS OF FIRE. 



From dome to dome when flames infuriate climb. 
Sweep the long street, invest the tower sublime ; 
Gild the tali vanes amid the astonislit night, 
And reddening* heaven returns the sanguine light ; 
While with vast strides and bristling hair aloof 
Pale danger glides along the falling roof; 
And giant terror, howling in amaze, 
Moves his dark limbs across the lurid blaze. 
Nymphs I you first taught the gelid wave to rise, 
Hurl'd in resplendent arches to the skies ; 
In iron cells condenst the airy spring, 
And impt the torrent with unfailing wing ; 
— On the fierce flames the shower impetuous falls, 
And sudden darkness shrouds the shattered walls ; 
Steam, smoke, and dust, in blended volumes roll, 
And night and silence repossess the pole. — 
Where were ye, nymphs I in those disasterous hours. 
Which wrapt in flames Augusta's sinking towers ■ 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 61 

Why did ye linger in your wells and groves, 
When sad woodmason mourn'd her infant loves ? 
When thy fair daughters with unheeded screams, 
Ill-fated molesworth 1 calPd the loitering streams I 
The trembling nymph, on bloodless fingers hung, 
Eyes from the tottering wall the distant throng, 
With ceaseless shrieks her sleeping friends alarms; 
Drops with singed hair into her lover's arms.— 
The illumined mother seeks with footsteps fleet, 
Where hangs the safe balcony o'er the street ; 
Wrapt in her sheet her youngest hope suspends, 
And panting lowers it to her tiptoe friends ; 
Again she hurries on affection's wings, 
And now a third, and now a fourth she brings ; 
Safe all her babes, she smooths her horrent brow, 
And bursts through bickering flames, unscorcht, 

below. 
So, by her son arraigned, with feet unshod, 
O'er burning bars indignant Emma trod. 
E'en on the day when youth with beauty wed, 
The flames surprised them in their nuptial bed ;— 
Seen at the opening sash with bosom bare, 
With ringing hands, and dark disheveled hair, 



62 BOTANIC GARI$£N. 

The blushing bride, with wild disordered charms, 
Round her fond lover winds her ivory arms ; 
Beat, as they clasp, their throbbing hearts with fear, 
And many a kiss is mixt with many a tear ; — . 
Ah me 1 in vain the laboring engines pour 
Round their pale limbs the ineffectual shower !— * 
Then crasht the floor, while shrinking crouds retire* 
And love and virtue sunk amid the fire I— < 
With piercing screams afflicted strangers mourn> 
And their white ashes mingle in their urn. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 63 



MATERNAL LOVE, 



So when the mother, bending o'er his charmsi 
Clasps her fair nurseling in delighted arms ; 
Throws the thin kerchief from her neck of snow, 
And half unveils the pearly orbs below ; 
With sparkling eye the blameless plunderer owns 
Her soft embraces, and endearing tones, 
Seeks the salubrious fount with opening lips, 
Spreads his inquiring hands, and smiles, and sips. 
Connubial fair ! whom no fond transport warms 
To lull your infant in maternal arms ; 
Who, blest in vain with tumid bosoms, hear 
His tender wailings with unfeeling ear ; 
The soothing kiss and milky rill deny, 
To the sweet pouting lip, and glistening eye ! — . 
Ah ! what avails the cradle's damask roof, 
The eider bolster, and embroidered woof !— • 
Oft hears the gilded couch unpitied plains, 
And many a tear the tassel'd cushion stains ! 



64 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



No voice so sweet attunes his cares to rest, 

So soft no pillow as his mother's breast ! — 

Thus charm'd to sweet repose, when twilight hours 

Shed their soft influence on celestial bowers, 

The cherub, innocence, with smile divine 

Shuts his white wings, and sleeps on beauty's shrine. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 65 



HERCULES AND ACHELOUS. 



Thus when young Hercules, with firm disdain^ 

Braved the soft smiles of pleasure's harlot train ; 

To valiant toils his forceful limbs assigned, 

And gave to virtue all his mighty mind ; 

Fierce achelous rusht from mountain-caves, 

O'er sad Etolia pour'd his wasteful waves 

O'er lowing vales and bleating pastures rolled, 

Swept her red vineyards, and her glebes of gold, 

Mined all her towns, uptore her rooted woods, 

And famine danced upon the shining floods. 

The youthful hero seized his curled crest, 

And dasht with lifted club the watery pest ; 

With waving arm the billowy tumult quelled, 

And to his course the bellowing fiend repelled 

Then to a snake the finny demon turn'd, 

His lengthened form with scales of silver burn'd ; 

Lasht with resistless sweep his dragon-train, 

And shot meandering o'er the affrighted plain. 
jf 2 



66 BOTANIC GARDEN, 

The hero-god, with giant fingers claspt 
Firm round his neck, the hissing monster graspt ; 
With starting eyes, wide throat, and gaping teeth, 
Curl his redundant folds, and writhe in death. 
And now a bull, amid the flying throng 
The grisly demon foam'd, and roar'd along ; 
With silver hoofs the flowery meadows spurn'd, 
Rolled his read eye, his threatening antlers turn'd; 
Dragged down to earth the warrior's victor-hands, 
Prest his deep dewlap on the imprinted sands ; 
Then with quick bound his bended knee he fixt 
High on his neck, the branching horns betwixt, 
Strain d his strong arms, his sinewy shoulders bent, 
And from his curl'd brow the twisted terror rent. 
—Pleased fawns and nymphs with dancing step ap- 
plaud, 
And hang their chaplets round the resting god ; 
Link their soft hands, and rear, with pausing toil, 
The golden trophy on the furrowed soil ; 
Fill with ripe fruits, with wreathed flowers adorn, 
And give to plenty her prolific horn. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 67 



CARAVANS IN THE DESART. 



Thus when to kneel in Mecca's awful gloom, 
Or press with pious kiss Medina's tomb, 
League after league, through many a lingering day, 
Steer the swart caravans their sultry way ; 
O'er sandy wastes on gasping camels toil, 
Or print with pilgrim-steps the burning soil ; 
If from lone rocks a sparkling rill descend, 
O'er the green brink the kneeling nations bend, 
Bathe the parcht lip, and cool the feverish tongue, 
And the clear lake reflects the mingled throng. 



6$ BOTANIC GARDEN. 



SKAITING, 



So when the north congeals his watery mass, 
Piles high his snows, and floors his seas with glass ; 
While many a month, unknown to warmer rays, 
Marks its slow chronicle by lunar days ; 
Stout youths and ruddy damsels, sportive train, 
Leave the white soil, and rush upon the main 5 
From isle to isle the moon-bright squadrons stray, 
And win in easy curves their graceful way ; 
On step alternate borne, with balance nice, 
Hang o'er the gliding steel, and hiss along the ice. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 69 



SYLPHS PURIFYING THE AIR. 



SrLPHs! your bold myriads on the withering heath 
Stay the fell syroc's suffocating breath ; 
Arrest simoom in his realms of sand, 
The poisoned javelin balanced in his hand ; — 
Fierce on blue streams he rides the tainted air, 
Points his keen eye, and waves his whistling hair ; 
While, as he turns, the undulating soil 
Rolls in red waves, and billowy deserts boil. 
You seize tornado by his locks of mist, 
Burst his dense clouds, his wheeling spires untwist; 
Wide o'er the west, when borne on headlong gales, 
Dark as meridian night, the monster sails, 
Howls high in air, and shakes his curled brow, 
Lashing with serpent train the waves below, 
Whirls his black arm, the forked lightning flings, 
And showers a deluge from his demon wings. 
Sylfite ! with light shafts you pierce the drowsy fog, 
That lingering slumbers on the sedge-wove bog, 



70 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

With webbed feet o'er midnight meadows creeps^ 
Or flings his hairy limbs on stagnant deeps. 
You meet contagion issuing from afar, 
And dash the baneful conquerer from his car ; 
When, guest of death I from charnel vaults he steals* 
And bathes in human gore his armed wheels* 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 71 



THYRSIS AND jEGLE. 



Thus when the fdague^ upborne on belgian air, 
Lookt through the mist, and shook his clotted hair; 
O'er shrinking nations steer'd malignant clouds, 
And rain'd destruction on the gasping crowds. 
The fyeauteous jegle* felt the venom'd dart, 
Slow rolled her eye, and feebly throbbed her heart ; 
Each fervid sigh seem'd shorter than the last, 
And starting friendship shunned her, as she passed. 
— «With weak unsteady step the fainting maid 
Seeks the cold garden's solitary shade, 



* When the plague raged in Holland in 1636, a young 
girl, seized with it, was removed to a garden, where her 
lover, who was betrothed to her, attended her as a nurse. 
He remained uninfected, and she recovered, and was 
married to him. The story is related by Vine. Fabricius, 
in the Misc. Cur. Ann. II, Obs. 188. 



72 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Sinks on the pillowy moss her drooping head 
And prints with lifeless limbs her leafy bed. 
—•On wings of love her plighted swain pursues, 
Shades her from winds, and shelters her from dews, 
Extends on tapering poles the canvas roof. 
Spreads o'er the straw -wove matt, the flaxen woof, 
Sweet buds and blossoms on her bolster strows, 
And binds his kerchief round her aching brows ; 
Sooths with soft kiss, with tender accents charms, 
And clasps the bright infection in his arms. — . 
With pale and languid smiles the grateful fair 
Applauds his virtues, and rewards his care ; 
Mourns with wet cheek her fair companions fled 
On timorous step, or numbered with the dead ; 
Calls to her bosom all its scattered rays, 
And pours on thyrsis the collected blaze ; 
Braves the chill night, caressing and carest, 
And folds her hero-lover to hei\ breast — 
Less bold, leander at the dusky hour 
Eyed, as he swam, the far love-lighted tower ; 
Breasted with struggling arms the tossing wave, 
And sunk benighted in the watery grave. 
Less bo*d, Tobias claim'd the nuptial bed, 
Where seven fond lovers by a fiend had bled ; 



BOTANIC GARDEN. To 

And drove, instructed by his angel-guide, 
The enamored demon from the fatal bride.* — 
Sylphs ! while your winnowing pinions fannYt the air, 
And shed gay visions o'er the sleeping pair ; 
Love round their couch affused his rosy breath, 
And with his keener arrows conquered death. 




F4 BOTANIC GARDEN, 



CUPID AND PSYCHE. 



So pure, so soft, with sweet attraction shone 
Fair psyche, kneeling at the ethereal throne ; 
Won with coy smiles the admiring court of Jove y 
And warai'd the bosom of unconquered love. — 
Beneath a moving shade of fruits and flowers 
Onward they march to Hymen's sacred bowers ; 
With lifted torch he lights the festive train, 
Sublime, and leads them in his golden chain ; 
Joins the fond pair, indulgent to their vows, 
And hides with mystic veii their blushing brows. 
Round their fair forms their mingling arms they 

fling, 
Meet with warm lip, and clasp with rustling wing.—* 
— Hence plastic nature, as oblivion whelms 
Her fading forms, re-peoples all her realms ; 
Soft joys disport on purple plumes unfuiTd, 
And love and beauty rule the willing world. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 75 



DEATH OF ROSIERE. 



S2'lphs ! your soft voices, whispering from the 
skies, 
Bade from low earth the bold mongolfier rise ; 
Outstretcht his buoyant ball with airy spring, 
And bore the sage on levity of wing ;— 
Where were ye, syl/ihs ! when on the ethereal main 
Young rosiere launcht, and called your aid in vain ? 
Fair mounts the light balloon, by zephyr driven, 
Parts the thin clouds, and sails along the heaven ; 
Higher and yet higher the expanding bubble flies, 
Lights with quick flash, and bursts amid the skies. — 
Headlong he rushes through the affrighted air 
With limbs destorted, and disheveled hair, 
Whirls round and round, the flying crowd alarms, 
And death receives him in his sable arms 5 
—Betrothed beauty bending o'er his bier, 
Breathes the loud sob, and sheds the incessant tear ; 



T6 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Pursues the sad procession as it moves 
Through winding avenues and waving groves ; 
Hears the slow dirge amid the echoing aiies, 
And mingles with her sighs discordant smiles. 
Then with quick step advancing through the gloom, 
" I come !" she cries, and leaps into his tomb. 
u Oh, stay 1 I follow thee to realms above !— - 
" Oh, wait a moment for thy dying love ! — 
" Thus, thus I clasp thee to my bursting heart ! — 
" Close o'er us, holy earth ! — we will not part !"— - 
So erst with melting wax and loosened strings 
Sunk hapless icarus on unfaithful wings ; 
His scattered plumage danced upon the wave, 
And sorrowing mermaids deckt his watery grave ; 
O'er his pale corse their pearly sea-flowers shed, 
And strew'd with crimson moss his marble bed ; 
Struck in their coral towers the pausing bell, 
And wide in ocean tolled his echoing knell. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



DIVING BELL. 



Led by the sage, lo! Britain's sons shall guide 
Huge sea-balloons beneath the tossing tide ; 
The diving castles rooft with spheric glass, 
Ribb'd with strong oak, and barred with bolts of 

brass, 

Buoyed with pure air shall endless tracks pursue, 

And priestly's hand the vital flood renew. — ■ 

Then shall Britannia rule the wealthy realms, 

Which ocean's wide insatiate wave o'erwhelms ; 

Confine in netted bowers his scaly flocks, 

Part his blue plains, and people all his rocks. 

Deep, in warm waves beneath the line that roll, 

Beneath the shadowy ice-isles of the pole, 

Onward, through bright meandering vales, afar, 

Obedient sharks shall trail her sceptred car, 

With harnest necks the pearly flood disturb, 

Stretch the silk rein, and champ the silver curb ; 

Pleased round her triumph wondering tritons plav. 

And sea-maids hail her on the watery way, 
G2 



T8 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

— Oft shall she weep beneath the crystal waves 
O'er shipwreckt lovers weltering in their graves ; 
Mingling in death the brave and good behold 
With slaves to glory, and with slaves to gold ; 
Shrined in the deep shall dav and sfaulding mourn* 
Each in his treacherous bell, sepulcheral urn !— 
Oft o'er thy lovely daughters, hapless pierce ! 
Her sighs shall breathe, her sorrows dew their 

hearse.— 
With brow upturn'd to heaven, " we will not part I" 
He cried, and claspt them to his aching heart, — 
— Dasht in dread conflict on the rocky grounds, 
Crash the shockt masts, the staggering wreck re- 
bounds ; 
Through gaping seams the rushing deluge swims, 
Chills their pale bosoms, bathes their shuddering 

limbs, 
Climbs their white shoulders, buoys their streaming 

hair, 
And the last sea-shriek bellows in the air.— 
Each with loud sobs her tender sire carest, 
And gasping strain'd him closer to her breast ! 
— Stretcht on one bier they sleep beneath the brine,. 
And their white bones with ivory arms intwine ! 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 79 



SYLPHS OF MUSIC. 



SrtPRS of nice ear ! with beating wings you guide 
The fine vibrations of the aerial tide ; 
Join in sweet cadences the measured words, 
Or stretch and modulate the trembling cords, 
You strung to melody the grecian lyre, 
Breathed the rapt song, and fanned the thought of 

fire, 
Or brought in combinations, deep and clear, 
Immortal harmony to handel's ear. — 
You with soft breath attune the vernal gale, 
When breezy evening broods the listening vale ; 
Or wake the loud tumultuous sounds, that dwell 
In echo's many-toned diurnal shell. 
You melt in dulcet chords, when zephyr rings 
The eolian harp, and mingle all its strings ; 
Or trill in air the soft symphonious chime, 
When rapt cecilia lifts her eye sublime, 
Swell, as she breathe?, her bosom's rising snow. 
O'er her white teeth in tuneful accents flow, 



80 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Through her fair lips on whispering pinions move^ 
And form the tender sighs, that kindle love I 
So playful love on Ida's flowery sides 
With ribbon-rein the indignant lion guides ;* 
Pleased on his brinded back the lyre he rings, 
And shakes delirious rapture from the strings ; 
Slow as the pausing monarch stalks along, 
Sheaths his retractile claws, and drinks the song ; 
Soft nymphs on timid step the triumph view, 
And listening fawns with beating hoofs pursue ; 
With pointed ears the alarmed forest starts, 
And love and music soften savage hearts. 



* Described from an ancient gem, expressive of the 
combined power of love and music, in the Museum Flo* 
rent. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. SI 



DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIAN ARMY. 



Stlphs ! your bold hosts, when heaven with justice 
dread 
Calls the red tempest round the guilty head, 
Fierce at his nod assume vindictive forms, 
And launch from airy cars the vollied storms. — 
From Ashur's vales when proud senacherib trod, 
Pour'd his swoln heart, defied the living god, 
Urged with incessant shouts his glittering powers, 
And judah shook through all her massy towers ; 
Round her sad altars prest the prostrate crowd, 
Hosts beat their breasts, and suppliant chieftains bow'd 
Loud shrieks of matrons thrill'd the troubled air, 
And trembling virgins rent their scatter'd hair ; 
High in the midst the kneeling king adored, 
Spread the blaspheming scroll before the Lord, 
Raised his pale hands, and breathed his pausing sighs, 
And fixed on heaven his dim imploring eyes, — 
" Oh ! mighty god ! amidst thy seraph-throng 
Who sit'st sublime, the judge of right and wrong ; 



82 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Thine the wide earth, bright sun, and starry zone, 
That twinkling journey round thy golden throne ; 
Thine is the crystal source of life and light, 
And thine the realms of death's eternal night. 
Oh ! bend thine ear, thy gracious eye incline, 
Lo ! Ashur's king blasphemes thy holy shrine, 
Insults our offerings, and derides our vows,— 
Oh ! strike the diadem from his impious brows, 
Tear from his murderous hand the bloody rod, 
And teach the trembling nations, thou art god /" 
- — Sylphs I in what dread array with pennons broad. 
Onward ye floated o'er the ethereal road, 
CalPd each dank steam the reeking marsh exhales, 
Contagious vapors, and volcanic gales, 
Gave the soft south with poisonous breath to blow, 
And roll'd the dreadful whirlwind on the foe ! 
Hark ! o'er the camp the venom'd tempest sings, 
Man falls on man, on buckler buckler rings ; 
Groan answers groan, to anguish anguish yields, 
And death's loud accents shake the tented fields ! 
High rears the fiend his grinning jaws, and wide 
Spans the pale nations with colossal stride, 
Waves his broad faulchion with uplifted hand, 
And his vast shadow darkens all the land, 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



RAPE OF PROSERPINE, 



So in SiciliaV ever-blooming shade, 
When playful proserpine from ceres stray'd, 
Led with unwary step her virgin trains 
O'er Etna's steeps, and Enna's golden plains ; 
Pluckt with fair hand the silver-blossom'd bower, 
And purpled mead, — herself a fairer flower ; 
Sudden, unseen amid the twilight glade, 
Rusht gloomy dis, and seized the trembling maid. — = 
Her starting damsels sprung from mossy seats, 
Dropt from their gauzy laps the gathered sweetsy 
Clung round the struggling nymph, with piercing cries. 
Pursued the chariot, and invokt the skies;— ' 
Pleased as he grasps her in his iron arms, 
Frights with soft sighs, with tender words alarms ; 
The wheels descending rolled in smoky rings, 
Infernal Cupids flapt their demon wings ; 
Earth with deep yawn received the fair, amazed, 
And far in night celestial beauty blazed. 



84? B3TANIC GARDEN. 



DESTRUCTION AND RESUSCITATION 

OF THE UNIVERSE. 



Roll on, ye stars ! exult in youthful prime, 
Mark with bright curves the printless steps of time; 
Near and more near your beamy cars approach, 
And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach ; 
Flowers of the sky 1 ye too to age must yield, 
Frail as your silken sisters of the field ! 
Star after star from heaven's high arch shall rusly 
Suns sink on suns, and systems systems crush, 
Headlong, extinct, to one dark centre fall, 
And death, and night, and chaos mingle all 1 
— Till o'er the wreck, emerging from the storm, 
Immortal nature lifts her changeful form, 
Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame, 
And soars and shines, another and the same. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 85 



AIR DESTROYED AND REPRODUCED. 



Castled on ice, beneath the circling bear, 
A vast camelion drinks and vomits air ; 
O'er twelve degrees his ribs gigantic bend, 
And many a league his gasping jaws extend ; 
Half fish, beneath, his scaly volutes spread, 
\nd vegetable plumage crests his head ; 
Huge fields of air his wrinkled skin receives. 
From panting gills, wide lungs, and waving leaves ; 
Then with dread throes subsides his bloated form, 
His shriek the thunder, and his sigh the storm. 
Oft high in heaven the hissing demon wins 
His towering course, upborne on winnowing fins ; 
Steers with expanded eye and gaping mouth, 
His mass enormous to the affrighted south ; 
Spreads o'er the shuddering line his shaddowy limbs, 
And frost and famine follow as he -swims. — 



86 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Sylphs ! round his cloud-built couch your bands 

array, 
And mould the monster to your gentle sway ; 
Charm with soft tones, with tender touches check. 
Bend to your golden yoke his willing neck, 
With silver curb his yielding teeth restrain, 
And give to kirwin's* hand the silken rein. 
Pleased shall the sage, the dragon-wings between, 
Bend o'er discordant climes his eye serene, 
With Lapland breezes cool arabian vales, 
Then call to Hindostan antarctic gales, 
Adorn with WTeathed ears Kampschatka's brows, 
And scatter roses on Zelandic snows, 
Earth's wondering zones the genial seasons share, 
And nations hail him " monarch of the air" 



* Mr. Kirwin has published a valuable treatise on the 
temperature of climates. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. $7 



VEGETABLE LOVES. 



Come ye soft sylfihs! who fan the paphian groves. 
And bear on sportive wings the callow loves ; 
Call with sweet whisper, in each gale that blows, 
The slumbering snow-drop from her long repose ; 
Charm the pale primrose from her clay -cold bed, 
Unveil the bashful violet's tremulous head ; 
While from her bud the playful tulip breaks, 
And young carnations peep with blushing cheeks ; 
Bid the closed coral from nocturnal cold 
Curtain'd with silk the virgin stigma fold, 
Shake into viewless air the morning dews, 
And wave in light its iridescent hues. 
So shall from high the bursting anther trust 
To the mild breezes the prolific dust ; 
Or bow his waxen head with graceful pride, 
Watch the first blushes of his waking bride. 
Give to her hand the honied cup, or sip 
Celestial nectar from her sweeter lip ; 



88 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



Hang in soft raptures o'er the yielding fair, 
Love out his hour, and leave his life in air. 
So in his silken sepulchre the worm, 
Warm'd with new life, unfolds his lava-form ; 
Ere while aloft in wanton circles moves, 
And wooes on Hymen-wings his velvet loves. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 89 



THE CROCODILE. 



So from his shell on Delta's shower-less isle 

Bursts into life the monster of the Nile ; 

First in translucent lymph with cobweb-tlireads 

The brain's fine floating tissue swells, and spreads ; 

Nerve after nerve the glistening spine descends, 

The red heart dances, the aorta bends ; 

Through each new gland the purple current glides, 

New veins meandering drink the refluent tides ; 

Edge over edge expands the hardening scale, 

And sheath's his slimy skin in silver mail. 

Erewhile, emerging from the brooding sand, 

With tyger-paw he prints the brineless strand* 

High on the flood with speckled bosom swims* 

Helm'd with broad tail and oar'd with giant limbs ; 

Rolls his fierce eye-balls, clasps his iron claws, 

And champs with gnashing teeth his massy jaws ; 

Old Nilus sighs along his cane-crown'd shores, 

And swarthy Memphis trembles and adores. 
H 2 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



ASCENT OF THE BOTANIC GODDESS. 



The goddess ceased, — and, calling from afar 
The wandering zephyrs, joins them to her car ; 
Mounts with light bound, and, graceful, as she bends, 
Whirls the long lash, the flexile rein extends ; 
On whispering wheels the silver axle slides, 
Climbs into air, and cleaves the crystal tides , 
Bursts from its pearly chains, her amber hair 
Streams o'er her ivory shoulders, buoy'd in air ; 
Swells her white veil, with ruby clasp confined 
Round her fair brow, and undulates behind ; 
The lessening coursers rise in spiral rings, 
Pierce the slow-sailing clouds, and stretch their 

shadowy wings. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 91 



AARON'S ROD, 



Thus when in holy triumph Aaron trod, 
And ofier'd on the shrine his mystic rod ; 
First a new bark its silken tissue weaves, 
New buds emerging widen into leaves ; 
Fair fruits protrude, enascent flowers expand, 
And blush and tremble round the living wand. 



92 botanic garden. 



DIANA'S SILVER TREE. 



So the learnt alchemist exulting sees 
Rise in his bright matrass diana's trees ; 
Drop after drop, with just delay he pours 
The red-fumed acid! on Potosi's ores ; 
With sudden flash the fierce bullitions rise, 
And wide in air the gas phlogistic flies ; 
Slow shoot, at length, in many a brilliant mass 
Metalic roots across the netted glass ; 
Branch after branch extend their silver stems, 
Bud into gold, and blossom into gems. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 93 



ADDRESS TO THE SYLPHS. 



Stlphs .' who round earth on purple pinions 
borne, 
Attend the radiant chariot of the morn ; 
Lead the gay hours along the ethereal height, 
And on each dan meridian shower the light ; 
Sylfihs ! who from realms of equatorial day 
To climes, that shudder in the polar ray, 
From zone to zone pursue on shifting wing, 
The bright perennial journey of the spring ; 
Bring my rich balms from Mecca's hallow'd glades, 
Sweet flowers, that glitter in Arabia's shades ; 
Fruits, whose fair forms in bright succession glow, 
Gilding the banks of Arno, or of Po ; 
Each leaf, whose fragrant steam with ruby lip 
Gay China's nymplis from pictured vases sip ; 
Each spicy rind, which sultry India boasts, 
Scenting the night-air round her breezy coasts ; 



94 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Roots, whose bold stems in bleak Siberia blow, 
And gem with many a tint the eternal snow ; 
Barks, whose broad umbrage high in ether waves 
O'er Andes steeps, and hides his golden caves ; 
And, where yon oak extends his dusky shoots 
V ide o'er the rill, that bubbles from his roots ; 
.Beneath whose arms, protected from the storm, 
A turf built altar rears its rustic form ; 
Sylfihs I with religious hands fresh garlands twine, 
And deck with lavish pomp hygeia's shrine. 
Call with loud voice the sisterhood that dwell 
On floating cloud, wide wave, or bubbling well ; 
Stamp with charm'd foot, convoke the alarmed 

gnomes 
From golden beds and adamantine domes ; 
Each from her sphere with beckoning arm invite, 
Cuii'd with red flame, the vestal forms of light ; 
Close all your spotted wings, in lucid ranks 
Press with your bending knees the crouded banks, 
Cross your meek arms, incline your wreathed brows, 
And win the goddess with unwearied vows. 



BOTANIC GARDES. 



INVOCATION. 



Descend, ye hovering sylphs ! aerial quires? 
And sweep with little hands your silver lyres ; 
With fairy footsteps print your grassy rings, 
Ye gnomes ! accordant to the tinkling strings ; 
While in soft notes I tune to oaten reed 
Gay hopes, and amoros sorrows of the mead.— 
From giant oaks, that wave their branches dark, 
To the dwarf moss that clings upon their bark, 
Wlfat beaux and beauties crowd the gaudy groves, 
And woo and win their vegetable loves. 
How snow-drops cold, and blue-eyed harebells blend 
Their tender tears, as o'er the stream they bend ; 
The love-sick violet, and the primrose pale, 
Bow their sweet heads, and whisper to the gale ; 
With secret sighs the virgin lily droops, 
And jealous cowslips hang their tawny cups. 
How the young rose, in beauty's damask pride, 
Drinks the warm blushes of his bashful bride ; 



96 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

■ With honied lips enamored woodbines meet, 
Clasp with fond arms, and mix their kisses sweet. 
Botanic muse ! who, in this latter age, 
Led by your airy hand the Swedish sage, 
Bade his keen eye your secret haunts explore 
On dewy dell, high wood, and winding shore ; 
Say on each leaf how tiny graces dwell ; 
How laugh the pleasures in a blossom's bell ; 
How insect loves arise on cobweb wings, 
Aim their light shafts, and point their little stings. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 9.3f 



DESDEMONA. 



With strange deformity plantago treads. 
A monster birth ! and lifts his hundred heads ; 
Yet with soft love a gentle belle he charms, 
And clasps the beauty in his hundred arms. 
So hapless desdemona, fair and young, 
Won by othello's captivating tongue, 
Sigh'd o'er each strange and piteous tale, distrest 
And sunk, enamor'd, on his sooty breast. 



98 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



EOLIAN HARP. 



With charms despotic fair chondrilla reigns 
O'er the soft hearts oijive fraternal swains ; 
If sighs the changeful nymph, alike they mourn ; 
And if she smile, with rival raptures burn. 
So, tuned in unison, eolian lyre ! 
Sounds in sweet symphony thy kindred wire ; 
Now, gently swept by zephyr's vernal wings, 
Sink in soft cadences the love-sick strings ; 
And now with mingling chords, and voices higher, 
Peal the full anthems of the aerial choir. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. $9 



NINON DE L'ENCLOS. 



When the young hours, amid her tangled hair, 
Wove the fresh rose-bud, and the lily fair, 
Proud glorioso led three chosen swains, 
The blushing captives of her virgin chains—- 
When time's rude hand a bark of wrinkles spread 
Round her weak limbs, and silver'd o'er her head, 
Three other youths her riper years engage, 
The flatter'd victims of her wily age. — 
So, in her wane of beauty, ninon won 
With fatal smiles her gay unconscious son. — 
Claspt in his arms, she own'd a mother's name,— 
" Desist, rash youth ! restrain your impious flame, 
" First on that bed your infant-form was prest, 
" Born by my throes, and nurtur'd at my breast."— 
Back as from death he sprung, with wild amaze 
Fierce on the fair he fixt his ardent gaze ; 
Dropt on one knee, his frantic arms outspread^ 
And stole a guilty glance toward the bed^ 



100 



BOTANIC GAKDEN. 



Then breathed from quivering lips a whisper'd vow, 

And bent on heaven his pale repentant brow ; 

" Thus thus 1" he cried, and plunged the furious 

dart, 
And life and love gusht, mingled, from his heart. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 101 



THE VANE. 



'When heaven's high vault condensing clouds 
deform, 
Fair Amaryllis flies the incuthbent storm. 
Seeks with unsteady step the shelter'd vale, 
And turns her blushing beauties from the gale.— • 
Six rival youths, with soft concern imprest, 
Calm all her fears, and charm her cares to rest, — 
So shines at eve the sun illumined fane, 
Lifts its bright cross, and waves its golden vane ; 
From every breeze the polisht axle turns, 
And high in air the dancing meteor bums. 

i * 



102 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



NYMPH IN FULL DRESS, 



Queen of the marsh, imperial drosera treads 
Rush-fringed banks, and moss-embroider'd beds , 
Redundant folds of glossy silk surround 
Her slender waist, and trail upon the ground ; 
Five sister-nymphs collect with graceful ease, 
Or spread the floating purple to the breeze ; 
An&Jive fair youths with duteous love comply 
With each soft mandate of her moving eye. 
As with sweet grace her snowy neck she bows, 
A zone of diamonds trembles round her brows, 
Bright shines the silver hallo, as she turns ; 
And, as she steps, the living lustre burns. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 103 



THE GIANT ILEX. 



Four of the giant brood with ilex stand, 
Each grasps a thousand arrows in his hand ; 
A thousand steely points on every scale 
Form the bright terrors of his bristly mail.— 
So arm'd, immortal moore uncharm'd the spell, 
And slew the wily dragon of the well. — 
Sudden with rage their injured bosoms burn, 
Retort the insult, or the wound return ; 
U?iwrong"d^ as gentle as the breeze that sweeps 
The unbending harvests or undimpled deeps, 
They guard the kings of Needwood's wide domains, 
Their sister-wives and fair infantine trains ; 
Lead the lone pilgrim through the trackless glade, 
Or guide in leafy wilds the wond'ring maid. — 
So Wright's bold pencil from Vesuvio's height 
Hurls his red lava's to the troubled night ; 
From Calpc starts the intolerable flash, 
Skies burst in flames, and blazing oceans dash ; — 



104 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



Or bids in sweet repose his shades recede, 
Winds the still vale, and slopes the velvet mead ; 
On the pale stream expiring zephyrs sink, 
And moonlight sleeps upon its hoary brink. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 105 



THE AMAZON. 



Gigantic nymph ! the fair kleinhovia reigns. 
The grace and terror of Orixa's plains ; 
O'er her warm cheek the blush of beauty swims, 
And nerves herculean bend her sinewy limbs ; 
With frolic eye she views the affrighted throng, 
And shakes the meadows as she towers along ; 
With playful violence displays her charms, 
And bears her trembling lovers in her arms — 
So fair thalestris shook her plumy crest, 
And bound in rigid mail her jutting breast ; 
Poised her long lance amid the walks of war, 
And beauty thunder'd from Bellona's car ; 
Greece arm'd in vain, her captive heroes^ wove 
The chains of conquest with the wreaths of love. 



106 BOTANIC GARDEN, 



THE DORMOUSE. 



When o'er the cultivated lawns and dreary 
wastes 
Retiring autumn flings her howling blasts, 
Bends in tumultuous waves the struggling woods, 
And showers their leafy honors on the floods, 
In withering heaps collects the flowery spoil, 
And each chill insect sinks beneath the soil ; 
Quick flies fair tulipa the loud alarms, 
And folds her infant closer in her arms ; 
In some lone cave, secure pavilion, lies, 
And waits the courtship of serener skies. 
So, six cold moons, the dormouse charm 'd to rest, 
Indulgent sleep ! beneath thy eider breast, 
\\ fields of fancy climbs the kerneFd groves, 
Or shares the golden harvest with his loves. 



BOTANIC GARDEN, 107 



GEORGIAN STAR. 



Then bright from earth amid the troubled sky, 
Ascends fair colchica with radiant eye, 
Warms the cold bosom of the hoary year, 
And lights with beauty's blaze the dusky sphere. 
Three blushing maids the intrepid nymph attend, 
And six gay youths, enamor'd train ! defend. — 
So shines with silver guards the georgian star, 
And drives on night's blue arch his glittering car ; 
Hangs o'er the billowy clouds his lucid form, 
Wades through the mist, and dances in the storm. 



108 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



WHALE AT PLAY. 



So, warm and buoyant in his oily mail, 
Gambols on seas of ice the unwieldy whale ; 
Wide-waving fins round floating islands urge 
His bulk gigantic through the troubled surge ; 
With hideous yawn the flying shoals he seeks, 
Or clasps with fringe of horn his massy cheeks ; 
Lifts o'er the tossing wave his nostrils bare, 
And spouts pellucid columns into air ; 
The silvery arches c?.tch the setting beam?, 
And transient rainbows tremble o'er the streams. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 109 



SENITIVE PLANT. 



Weak with nice sense, the chaste mimosa 
stands, 
From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands ; 
Oft as light clouds o'er-pass the summer-glade, 
Alarm'd she trembles at the moving shade ^ 
And feels, alive through all her tender form, 
The whisper'd murmurs of the gather'd storm ; 
Shuts her sweet eye-lids to approaching night, 
And hails with freshened charms the rising light, 
Veil'd, with gay decency and modest pride, 
Slow to the mosque she moves an eastern bride ; 
There her soft vows unceasing love record, 
Queen of the bright seraglio of her lord. 
So sinks or rises with the changeful hour 
The liquid silver in its glassy tower. 
So turns the needle to the pole it loves, 
With fine librations quivering as it moves, 

K 



110 BOTANIC GARDEN* 



PALACE OF A SEA NYMPH, 



Stretcht on her mossy couch, in trackless 
deeps, 
Queen of the coral groves, zoster a sleeps ; 
The silvery sea-weed matted round her bed, 
And distant surges murmuring o'er her head. 
High in the flood her azure dome ascends, 
The crystal arch on crystal columns bends ; 
Rooft with translucent shell the turrets blaze, 
And far in ocean dart their color'd rays ; 
O'er the white floor successive shadows move, 
As rise and break the ruffled waves above. 
Around the nymph her mermaid-trains repair, 
And wave with orient pearl her radiant hair ; 
With rapid fins she cleaves the watery way, 
Shoots like a silver meteor up to day ; 
Sounds a loud conch, convokes a scaly band, 
Her sea-born lovers, and ascends the strand. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. Ill 



MOUNTAIN NIGHT-SCENE. 



Where frowning Snowden bends his dizzy brow 
O'er Conway, listening to the surge below ; 
Retiring lichen climbs the topmost stone, 
And drinks the aerial solitude alone. — 
Bright shine the stars, unnumber'd o'er her head^ 
And the cold moon-beam gilds her flinty bed ; 
While round the rifted rocks hoarse whirlwinds 

breathe, 
And dark with thunder sail the clouds beneath. . 
The steepy path her plighted swain pursues, 
And tracks her light step o'er the imprinted dews ; 
Delighted Hymen gives his torch to blaze, 
Winds round the crags, and lights the mazy ways ; 
Sheds o'er their secret vows his influence chaste, 
And decks with roses the admiring waste. 



112 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



LOVERS PRAYER* 



As dash the waves on India's breezy strand 
Her flusht cheek prest upon her lily hand, 
Vallisner sits, up-turns her tearful eyes, 
Calls her lost lover, and upbraids the skies ; 
For him she breathes the silent sigh, forlorn, 
Each setting day ; for him each rising morn.—* 
" Bright orbs, that light yon high etherial plain, 
" Or bathe your radiant tresses in the main ; 
« Pale moon, that siiverest o'er night's sable brow ; 
" For ye were witness to his parting vow I 
" Ye shelving rocks, dark waves, and sounding shore, 
" Ye echoed sweet the tender words he swore ! 
" Can stars or seas the sails of love retain ? 
" O guide my wanderer to my arms again !" 



-SOTAKIC GARDEN. 112 



SENSIBILITY. 



All wan and shivering in the leafless glade 

The sad anemone reclined her head ; 

Grief on her cheeks had paled the roseate hue, 

And her sweet eye-lids dropt with pearly dew. 

" See from bright regions, borne on odorous gales, 

The swallow, herald of the summer, sails ; 

Breathe, gentle air ! from cherib-frps impart 

Thy balmy influence to my anguisht heart ; 

Thou, whose soft voice calls forth the tender 
blooms, 

Whose pencil paints them, and whose breath per- 
fumes ; 

O chase the fiend of frost, with leaden mace, 

Who seals in death-like sleep my hapless race ; 

Melt his hard heart, release his iron hand, 

And give my ivory petals to expand. 

So may each bud, that decks the brow of spring, 

Shed all its incense on thy wafting wing }" 
k 2 



114 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

To her fond prayer propitious zephyr yields, 
Sweeps on his sliding shell through azure fields. 
O'er her fair mansion waves his whispering wand, 
And gives her ivory petals to expand ; 
Gives with new life her filial train to rise, 
And hail with kindling smiles the genial skies. 
So shines the nymph in beauty's blushing pride, 
When zephyr wafts her deep calash aside ; 
Tears with rude kiss her bosom's gauzy veil, 
And flings the fluttering kerchief to the gale-' 




BOTANIC GARDEN, 115 



MEDEA AND ^SON. 



With nice selection modest rubia blends 
Her vernal dyes, and o'er the caldron bends ; 
Warm, mid the rising steam, the beauty glows, 
As blushes in a mist the dewy rose. 
With chemic art four favor'd youths aloof 
Stain the white fleece, or stretch the tinted woof ; 
O'er age's cheek the warmth of youth diffuse, 
Or deck the pale-eyed nymph in roseate hues. 
So v/hen medea to exulting Greece 
From plunder'd colchis bore the golden fleece ; 
On the loud shore a magic pile she rais'd, 
The caldron bubbled, and the faggots blazed ; 
Pleased on the boiling wave old jeson swims, 
And feels new vigor stretch his swelling limbs ; 
Through his thrill'd nerves forgotten ardors dart, 
And warmer eddies circle round his heart ; 
With softer fires his kindling eye-balls glow, 
And darker tresses wanton round his brow. 



HS 



BOTANIC GARDEif. 



APPROACHING TEMPEST. 



Here paused the muse, across the darkened pole 
Sail the dim clouds, the echoing thunders roll ; 
The trembling wood-nymphs, as the tempest lowers, 
Lead the gay goddess to their inmost bowers ; 
Hang the mute lyre, the laurel shade beneath, 
And round her temples bind the myrtle wreath. 
Now the light swallow, with her airy brood, 
Skims the green meadow, and the dimpled flood ; 
Loud shrieks the lone thrush from his leafless thorn, 
The alarmed beetle sounds his bugle horn ; 
Each pendant spider winds with fingers fine 
His ravel'd clue, and climbs along the line ; 
Gay gnomes in glittering circles stand aloof, 
Beneath a spreading mushroom's fretted roof ; 
Swift bees returning, seek their waxen cells, 
And sylphs cling, quivering, in the lily's bells. 
Through the still air descend the genial showers^ 
And pearly rain-drops deck the laughing flowers. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 117 



GALATEA RIDING ON THE WAVES. 



Her buoyant skiff intripid ulva guides, 
And seeks her lord amid the trackless tides ; 
Her secret vows the cyprian queen aproves, 
And hovering halcyons guard her infant-loves ; 
Each in his floating cradle, round they throng, 
And dimpling ocean bears the fleet along. 
Thus o'er the waves, which gently bend and swell. 
Fair galatea steers her silver shell ; 
Her playful dolphins stretch the silken rein, 
Hear her sweet voice, and glide along the main. 
As round the wild meandering coast she moves 
By gushing rills, rude cliffs, and nodding groves ; 
Each by her pine, the wood-nymphs wave their 

locks, 
And wondering naiads peep amid the rocks ; 
Pleased trains of mermaids rise from coral cells ; 
Admiring tritons sound their twisted shells ; 



118 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



Charm'd o'er the car pursuing cupids sweep, 
Their snow-white pinions twinkling in the deep ; 
And, as the lustre of her eye she turns, 
Soft sighs the gale, and amorous ocean burns* 




BOTANIC GARDEN. lit 



LADY FROZEN TO A STATUE. 



On dove's green brink the fair tremella stood, 
And view d her playful image in the flood ; 
To each rude rock, lone dell, and echoing grove, 
Sung the sweet sorrows of her secret love. 
" Oh, stay ! — return V 9 — along the sounding shore 
Cry'd the sad naiads,*— she return'd no more ! — 
Now girt with clouds the sullen evening frown'd, 
And withering Eurus swept along the ground ; 
The misty moon withdrew her horned light, 
And sunk with Hesper in the skirt of night ; 
No dim electric streams, the northern dawn, 
With meek efulgence quivered o'er the lawn ; 
No star benignant shot one transient ray- 
To guide or light the wanderer on her way* 
Round the dark crags the murmuring whirlwinds 

blow, 
Woods groan above, and waters roar below ; 



120 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

As o'er the steeps with pausing foot she moves, 
The pitying dryads shriek amid their groves. 
She flies — she stops — she pants — she looks behind, 
And hears a demon howl in every wind. 
As the bleak blast unfurls her fluttering vest, 
Cold beats the snow upon her shuddering breast ; 
Through her numb'd limbs the chill sensations dart, 
And the keen ice-bolt trembles at her heart. 
" I sink, I fall I oh, help me, help 1" she cries, 
Her stiffening tongue the unfinished sound denies 5 
Tear after tear adown her cheek succeeds, 
And pearls of ice bestrew the glittering meads ; 
Congealing snows her lingering feet surround, 
Arrest her flight, and root her to the ground ; 
With suppliant arms she pours the silent prayer ; 
Her suppliant arms hang crystal in the air ; 
Peiucid films her shivering neck o'erspread, 
Seal her mute lips, and silver o'er her head ; 
Veil her pale bosom, glaze her lifted hands, 
And, shrined in ice, the beauteous statue stands. 
—Dove's azure nymphs, on each revolving year. 
For fair tremella shed the tender tear ; 
With rush-wove crowns in sad procession move, 
And sound the sorrowing shell to hapless love. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 121 



AIR-BALOON. 



So on the shoreless air the intrepid gaul 
Launch! the vast concave of his buoyant ball. 
Journeying on high, the silken castle glides, 
Bright as a meteor through the azure tides ; 
O'er towns, and towers and temples wins its way ? 
Or mounts sublime, and gilds the vault of day. 
Silent with upturn'd eyes unbreathing crowds 
Pursue the floating wonder to the clouds ; 
And, flusht with transport or benumb'd with fear, 
Watch, as it rises, the diminisht sphere. 
— Now less and less I — and now a speck is seen ! 
And now the fleeting rack obtrudes between !— 
With bencledknees, raised arms, and suppliant brow, 
To every shrine with mingled cries they vow. — 
" Save him, ye saints ! who o'er the good preside ; 
" Bear him, ye winds ! ye stars benignant ! guide." 
—The calm philosopher in ether sails, 
Views broader stars, and breathes in purer gales ; 

L 



122 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Sees, like a map, in many a waving line, 
Round earth's blue plains her lucid waters shine ; C 
Sees at his feet the forked lightnings glow, 
And hears innocuous thunders roar below. 
Rise great mongolfier ! urge thy venturous flight ! 
High o'er the moon's pale ice-reflected light ; 
High o'er the pearly star, whose beamy horn 
Hangs in the east, gay harbinger of morn ; 
Leave the red eye of Mars on rapid wing, 
Jove's silver guards, and Saturn's crystal ring ; 
Leave the fair beams, which, issuing from afar, 
Play with new lustres round the Georgian star ; 
Shun with strong oars, the sun's attractive throne, 
The sparkling Zodiac, and the milky zone ; 
Where headlong comets, with increasing force, 
Through other systems bend their blazing course. 
For thee Cassiope her chair withdraws, 
For thee the Bear retracts his shaggy paws ; 
High o'er the north thy golden orb shall roll, 
And blaze eternal round the wondering pole. 
So, Argo, rising from the southern main, 
Lights with new stars the blue etherial plain ; 
With favoring beams the mariner protects; 
And the bold course, which first it steer'd, directs. 



BOTANIC GARDEN, 123 



VARYING COLORS OF THE SKY. 



How sweetly mutable yon orient hues, 
As morn's fair hand her opening roses strews ; 
How bright, when Iris, blending many a ray, 
Binds in embroider'd wreath the brow of day ; 
Soft when the pendant moon with lustres pale 
O'er heaven's blue arch unfurls her milkey veil ; 
While from the north long threads of silver light 
Dart on swift shuttles o'er the tissued night I 
Breathe soft ye zephyrs ! hear my fervent sighs, 
Bear on broad wings your votress to the skies [ 



124 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



TRANSIENCE OF BEAUTY. 



As yon gay clouds, which canopy the skies, 
Change their thin forms, and lose their lucid dyes; 
So the soft bloom of beauty's vernal charms 
Fades in our eyes, and withers in our arms. 
—Bright as the silvery plume, or pearly shell, 
The snow-white rose, or lily's virgin bell, 
The fair hellebOrus attractive shone, 
Warm'd every sage, and every shepherd won. — 
Round the gay sister's press the enamor'd bands. 
And seek with soft solicitude their hands. 
— Erewhile how changed ! — in dim suffusion lies 
The glance divine, that lighten'd in their eyes ; 
Cold are those lips, where smiles seductive hung, 
And the weak accents linger on their tongue ; 
Each roseate feature fades to livid green— 
Disgust, with face averted, shuts the scene. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 125 



DISCOVERY OF PAPER. 



Papyra, throned upon the banks of Nile, 

Spread her smooth leaf, and waved her silver style. 

— The storied pyramid, the laurel'd bust, 

The trophied arch had crumbled into dust ; 

The sacred symbol, and the epic song, 

Unknown the character, forgot the tongue, 

With each unconqered chief, or sainted maid, 

Sunk undistinguisht in oblivion's shade, 

Sad o'er the scattered ruins genius sigh'd, 

And infant aits but learn'd to lisp, and died. 

Till to astonisht realms papyra taught 

To paint in mystic colors sound and thought. 

With wisdom's voice to print the page sublime^ 

And mark in adamant the steps of time. 

Three favor youths her soft attentions share, 

The fond disciples of the studious fair, 

Hear her sweet voice, the golden process prove ; 

Gaze, as they learn ; and, as they listen, love. 
L2 



126 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

The first from Alpha to Omega joins 
The letter'd tribes along the level lines ; 
Weighs with nice ear the vowel, liquid, surd, 
And breaks in syllables the volant word. 
Then forms the next upon the marshalPd plain, 
In deepening ranks, his dexterous cypher-train ; 
And counts, as wheel the decimating bands, 
The dews of Egypt, or Arabia's sands. 
And then the third, on four concordant lines, 
Prints the lone crochet, and the quaver joins ; 
Marks the gay trill, the solemn pause inscribes, 
And parts with bars the undulating tribes. 
Pleased, round her cane-wove throne, the applaud- 
ing crowd, 
Clapt their rude hands, their swarthy foreheads 

bGw'd ; 
With loud acclaim, " a present god !" they cry'd, 
" A present god ! rebellowing shores reply'd.— - 
Then peal'd at intervals, with mingled swell, 
The echoing harp, shrill clarion, horn, and shell ; 
While bards ecstatic, bending o'er the lyre, 
Struck deeper chords, and wing'd the song with 
fire. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 127 

Then markt astronomers, with keener eyes, 
The moon's refulgent journey through the skies ; 
Watcht the swift comets urge their blazing cars, 
And weigh'd the sun with his revolving stars. 
High raised the chymists their hermetic wands, 
And changing forms obey'd their waving hands, 
Her treasured gold from earth's deep chambers tore* 
Or fused and harden'd her chalybeate ore. 
All with bent knee from fair papyra claim, 
Wove by her hands, the wreath of deathless fame, 
— Exulting genius crown'd his darling child, 

young arts claspt her knees, and virtue smiled, 




J 28 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



NEBUCHADNEZZAR TRANSFORMED, 



So from his gorgeous throne, which awed the 
world, 
The mighty monarch of Assyria hurl'd, 
Sojourned with brutes beneath the midnight storm, 
Changed by avenging heaven in mind and form* 
. — Prone to the earth he bends his brow superb, 
Crops the young floret and the bladed herb ; 
Lolls his red tongue, and from the reedy side 
Of slow Euphrates laps the muddy tide. 
Long eagle plumes his arching neck invest, 
Steal round his arms, and clasp his sharpen'd breast ; 
Dark brinded hairs, in bristling ranks, behind, 
Rise o'er his back, and rustle in the wind ; 
Clothe his lank sides, his shrivell'd limbs surround, 
And human hands with talons print the ground. 
Silent, in shining troops, the courtier-throng 
Pursue their monarch as he crawls along ; 
E'en beauty pleads in vain with smiles and tears, 
Nor flattery's self can pierce his pendant ears. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 129 



THE TIME PIECE. 



The gentle laps ana, nymphs fair, . 
And bright calendula with golden hair, 
Watch with nice eye the earth's diurnal way, 
Marking her solar and sidereal day, 
Her slow nutation, and her varying clime, 
And trace with mimic art the march of time ; 
Round his light foot a magic chain they fling, 
And count the quick vibrations of his wing.— 
First in its brazen cell reluctant roll'd, 
Bends the dark spring in many a steely fold. 
On spiral brass is stretcht the wiry thong, 
Tooth urges tooth, and wheel drives wheel along ; 
In diamond-eyes the polisht axles flow, 
Smooth slides the hand, the balance pants below. 
Round the white circlet, in relievo bold, 
A, serpent twines his scaly length in gold ; 
And brightly pencil'd on the enamePd sphere^ 
Live the fair trophies of the passing year. 



130 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

—Here time's huge fingers grasp his giant mace, 
And dash proud superstition from her base ; 
Rend her strong towers and gorgeous fanes, and shed 
The crumbling fragments round her guilty head. 
There the gay hours, whom wreaths of roses deck, 
Lead their young trains amid the cumberous wreck, 
And, slowly purpling o'er the mighty waste, 
Plant the fair growths of science and of taste. 
While each light moment, as it dances by, 
With feathery foot and pleasure-twinkling eye, 
Feeds from its baby-hand, with many a kiss, 
The callow nestlings of domestic bliss. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. IS I 



THE SORCERESS. 



Sopha'd on silk, amid her charm-built towers, 
Her meads of asphodel, and amaranth bowers, ' 
Where sleep and silence guard the soft abodes* 
In sullen apathy papaver nods. 
Faint o'er her couch in scintillating streams 
Pass the thin forms of fancy and of dreams ; 
Froze by inchantment on the velvet ground, 
Fair youths and beauteous ladies glitter round ; . 
On crystal pedestals they seem to sigh, 
Bend the meek knee and lift the imploring eye. 
— And now the sorceress bares her shrivell'd hand, 
And circles thrice in air her ebon wand ; 
Flusht with new life descending statues talk, 
The pliant marble softening as they walk ; 
With deeper sobs reviving lovers breathe, 
Fair bosoms rise and soft hearts pant beneath ; 
With warmer lips relenting damsels speak, 
And kindling blushes tinge the parian cheek ; 
To viewless lutes aerial voices sing, 
And hovering loves are heard on rustling wing. 



132 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

—She waves her wand again ! — fresh horrors seize 
Their stiffening limbs, their vital currents freeze ; 
By each cold nymph her marble lover lies, 
And iron slumbers seal her glassy eyes. 
So with his dread caduceus, hermes led 
From the dark regions of the imprison'd dead, 
Or drove in silent shoals the lingering train 
To night's dull shore, and pluto's dreary reign, 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 133 



ST. ANTHONY'S SERMON TO FISHES. 



So, when the saint from Padua's graceless land, 
In silent anguish sought the barren strand, 
High on the shatter'd beech sublime he stood, 
StilPd with his waving arm the babbling flood ; 
" To man's dull ear," he cried, " I call in vain, 
Hear me, ye scaly tenants of the main ! — " 
Mishapen seals approach in circling flocks, 
In dusky mail the tortoise climbs the rocks, 
Torpedoes, sharks, rays, porpoise, dolphins, pour 
Their twinkling squadrons round the glittering shore; 
With tangled fins behind, huge phocae glide, 
And whales and grampi swell the distant tide. 
Then kneel'd the hoary seer, to heaven addrest 
His fiery eyes, and smote his sounding breast; 
" Bless ye the Lord," with thundering voice he cried, 
« Bless ye the Lord !" the bending shores replied : 
The winds and waters caught the sacred word, 
And mingling echoes shouted " bless the Lord I" 

M 



134 



BOTANIC GARDEN: 



The listening shoals the quick contagion feel, 
Pant on the floods, inebriate with their zeal, 
Ope their wide jaws, and bow their slimy heads, 
And dash with frantic fins their foamy beds. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 135 



FROST SCENE, 



Thus, when white winter o'er the shivering clime 
Drives the still snow, or showers the silver rime ; 
As the lone shepherd o'er the dazzling rocks 
Prints his steep step, and guides his vagrant flocks; 
Views the green holly veil'd in net-work nice, 
Her vermil clusters twinkling in the ice ; 
Admires the lucid vales, and slumbering floods, 
Suspended cataracts, and crystal woods, 
Transparent towns, with seas of milk between, 
And eyes with transport the refulgent scene : 
If breaks the sunshine o'er the spangled trees, 
Or flits oh tepid wing the western breeze, 
In liquid dews descends the transient glare, 
And all the glittering pageant melts in air. 



13d BOTANIC GARDEN. 



MOSES STRIKING THE ROCK. 



Thus Israel's heaven-taught chief o'er trackless 
sands 
Led to the sultry rock his murmuring bands. 
Bright o'er his brows the forky radiance blazed, 
And high in air the rod divine he raised— 
Wide yawns the cliff! — amid the thirsty throng 
Rush the redundant waves, and shine along ; 
With gourds, and shells, and helmets, press the 

bands, 
Ope their parcht lips, and spread their eager hands, 
Snatch their pale infants to the exuberant shower, 
Kneel on the shatter'd rock, and bless the almighty- 
power. 



BOTANIC GARDEN, 13? 



PERUVIAN BARK. 



Where Andes hides his cloud-wreatht crest in 
snow, 
And roots his base on burning sands below ; 
Cinchona, fairest of peruvian maids, 
To health's bright goddess in the breezy glades, 
On Quito's temperate plain an altar rear'd, 
Trill'd the loud hymn, the solemn prayer preferr'd : 
Each balmy bud she cull'd, and honey'd flower, 
And hung with fragrant wreaths the sacred bower; 
Each pearly sea she searcht, and sparkling mine, 
And piled their treasures on the gorgeous shrine ; 
Her suppliant voice for sickning loxa raised, 
Sweet breathed the gale, and bright the censor blazed. 
•— « Divine hygeia ! on thy votaries bend 
Thy angel-looks, oh, hear us, and defend I 
While streaming o'er the night with baleful glare 
The star of autumn rays his misty hair ; 



M 2 



138 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Fierce from his fens the giant ague springs, 
And wrapt in fogs descends on vampire wings ; 
Before, with shuddering limbs cold tremor reels, 
And fever's burning nostril dogs his heels y 
Loud claps the grinning fiend his iron hands, 
Stamps with black hoof, and shouts along the lands ; 
Withers the damask cheek, unnerves the strong, 
And drives with scorpion-lash the shrieking throng. 
Oh, goddess | on thy kneeling votaries bend 
Thy angel-looks, oh, hear us, and defend !" 
Hygeia, leaning froity the blest abodes, 
The chrystal mansions of the immortal gods, 
Saw the sad nymph uplift her dewy eyes, 
Spread her white arms, and breathe her fervid sighs; 
Call'd to her fair associates, youth and joy, 
And shot all radiant through the glittering sky ; 
Loose waved behind her golden train of hair, 
Her sapphire mantle swam diffused in air— 
O'er the grey matted moss, and pansied sod, 
With step sublime the glowing goddess trod, 
Gilt with her beamy eye the conscious shade, 
And with her smile celestial blest the maid. 
« Come to my arms," with seraph voice she cries, 
Thy vows are heard, benignant nymph 1 arise ; 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 139 

Where yon aspiring trunks fantastic wreath 
Their mingled roots, and drink {he rill beneath, 
Yield to the biting axe thy sacred wood, 
And strew the bitter ibliage on ihe flood." 
In silent homage bow'd the blushing maid,— 
Five youths athletic hasten to her aid, 
O'er the scared hills re-echoing strokes resound, 
And headlong forests thunder on the ground. 
Round the dark roots, rent bark, and shatter'd boughs 
From ocherous beds the swelling fountain flows ; 
With streams austere its widening margin laves, 
And pours from vale to vale its dusky waves. 
—As the pale squadrons, bending o'er the brink, 
View with a sigh their altered forms, and drink ; 
Slow-ebbing life with refluent crimson breaks 
O'er their wan lips, and paints their haggard cheeks 
Through each fine nerve rekindling transports dart, 
Light the quick eye, and swell the exulting heart. 






HO BOTANIC GARDE*?, 



NYMPHS AT TEA. 



Here paused the goddess, — on hygeia's shrine 
Obsequious gnomes repose the lyre divine ; 
Descending sylphs relax the trembling strings, 
And catch the rain-drops on their shadowy wings, 
— And now her vase a modest naiad fills 
With liquid crystal from her pebbly rills ; 
Files the dry cedar round her silver urn, 
Bright climbs the blaze, the crackling faggots burn, 
Culls the green herb of China's envied bowers, 
In gaudy cups the steamy treasure pours ; 
And, sweetly smiling, on her bended knee 
presents the fragrant quintessence of tea. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 141 



SONG TO MAY. 



I. 



Born in yon blaze of orient sky, 
Sweet may ! thy radiant form unfold ; 

Unclose thy blue voluptuous eye, 
And wave thy shadowy locks of gold. 

II. 

For thee the fragrant zephyrs blow, 
For thee descends the sunny shower ; 

The rills in softer murmurs flow, 

And brighter blossoms gem the bower. 

III. 

Light graces drest in flowery wreaths, 
And tiptoe joys their hands combine ; 

And love his sweet contagion breathes, 
And, laughing, dances round thy shrine, 



142 



BOTANIC GARDEN, 

IV. 



Warm with new life the glittering throngs 
On quivering fin and rustling wing, 

Delighted join their votive song, 

And hail thee, goddess of the spring.' 







BOTANIC GARDEN 143 



HOWARD. 



And, now, philanthropy! thy rays divine, 
Dart round the globe from Zembla to the line ; 
O'er each dark prison plays the cheering light, 
Like northern lustres o'er the vault of night— 
From realm to realm, with cross or crescent crown'd, 
Where'er mankind and misery are found, 
O'er burning sands, deep waves, or wilds of snow, 
Thy Howard, journeying) seeks the house of woe- 
Down many a winding step to dungeons dank, 
Where anguish wails aloud, and fetters clank ; 
To caves bestrew'd with many a mouldering bone, 
And cells, whose echoes only learn to groan ; 
Where no kind bars a whispering friend disclose, 
No sunbeam enters, and no zephyr blows, 
He treads, inemulous of fame or wealth, 
Profuse of toil and prodigal of health ; 
With soft assuasive eloquence expands 
Power's rigid heart, and opes his clenching hands ; 



144 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Leads stern-eyed justice to the dark domains, 
If not to sever, to relax the chains; 
Or guides awaken'd mercy through the gloom, 
And shows the prison, sister to the tomb I— . 
Gives to her babes the self-devoted wife, 
To her fond husband liberty and life J 
—The spirits of the good, who bend from high 
Wide o'er these earthly scenes their partial eye, 
When first, array'd in virtue's purest robe, 
They saw her Howard traversing the globe j 
Saw round his brows her sun-like glory blaze 
In arrowy circles of unwearied rays j 
Mistook a mortal for an angel-guest, 
And askt what seraph-foot the earth imprest* 
—Onward he moyes I — disease and death retire, 
And murmuring demons hate him and admire. 



HUTANIC GARDEN, 145 



WITCH AND IMPS. 

/ 
Thrice round the grave cyrcjea prints her 

tread, 
And chants the numbers which disturb the dead ; 
Shakes o'er the holy earth her sable plume, 
Waves her dread wand, and strikes the echoing 

tomb I 
Pale shoot the stars across the troubled night, 
The timorous moon withholds her conscious light ; 
Shrill scream the famisht bats and shivering owls, 
And loud and long the dog of midnight howls I 
Then yawns the bursting ground ! — two nymphs 

obscene 
Rise on broad wings, and hail the baleful queen ; 
Each with dire grin salutes the potent wand, 
And leads the sorceress with his sooty hand ; 
Onward they glide, where sheds the sickly yew, 
O'er many a mouldering bone, its nightly dew ; 



145 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

The ponderous portals of the church unbar,-— 
Hoarse on their hinge the ponderous portals jar ; 
As through the colored glass the moon-beam falls? 
Huge shapeless spectres quiver on the walls ; 
Low murmurs creep along the hollow ground, 
And to each step the pealing ailes resound ; 
By glimmering lamps, protecting saints among, 
The shrines all trembling as they pass along, 
O'er the still choir with hideous laugh they move? 
Fiends yell below, and angels weep above i 
Their impious march to God's high altar bend, 
With feet impure the sacred steps ascend ; 
With wine unblest the holy chalice stain, 
Assume the mitre, and the cope profane ; 
To heaven their eyes in mock devotion throw, 
And to the cross with horrid mummery bow ; 
Adjure by mimic rites the powers above, 
And plight alternate their satanic love. 



BOTANIC GARDEN, 14f 



NIGHTMARE. 



So on his nightmare, through the evening fog, 
Flits the squab fiend o'er fen, and lake, and bog ; 
Seeks some love-wilder'd maid with sleep opprest, 
Alights, and, grinning, sits upon her breast. 
Such as of late, amid the murky sky, 
Was markt by fuseli's poetic eye ; 
Whose daring tints, with shakspeare's happiest 

grace, 
Gave to the airy phantom form and place. 
Back o'er her pillow sinks her blushing head, 
Her snow-white limbs hang helpless from the bed ; 
While with quick sighs, and suffocative breath, 
Her interrupted heart-pulse swims in death. 
Then shrieks of captured towns, and widows' tears, 
Pale lovers stretcht upon their bloodrstain'd biers $ 
The headlong precipice that thwarts her flight, 
The trackless desart, the cold starless night, 



248 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

And stern -eyed murderer, with his knife behind, 
In dread succession agonize her mind. 
O'er her fair limbs convulsive tremors fleet, 
Start in her hands, and struggle in her feet ; 
In vain to scream with quivering lips she tries, 
And strains in palsied lids her tremulous eyes ; 
In vain she wills to run, fly, swim, walk, creep ; 
The will presides not in the bower of SLEEr. 
On her fair bosom sits the demon-ape 
Erect, and balances his bloated shape ; 
Rolls in their marble orbs his gorgon-eyes, 
And drinks with leathern ears her tender cries. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 149 



THOR'S CAVE. 



Where h amps and manifold, their cliffs among, 
Each in his flinty channel winds along ; 
With lucid lines the dusky moor divides, 
Hurrying to intermix their sister tides ; 
Where still their silver-bosom'd nymphs abhor 
The blood-smear'd mansion of gigantic thor,— . 
Erst, fires volcanic in the marble womb 
Of cloud-wrapt wetton raised the massy dome ; 
Rocks rear'd on rocks in huge disjointed piles 
Form the tall turrets, and the lengthen'd ailes ; 
Broad ponderous piers sustain the roof, and wide 
Branch the vast rainbow ribs from side to side. 
While from above descends, in milky streams, 
One scanty pencil of illusive beams, 
Suspended crags and gaping gulphs illumes, 
And gilds the horrors of the deepen'd ?;looms# 
Here oft the naiads, as they chanced to play 

Near the dread fane on thor's returning day, 

N2 



150 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Saw from red altars streams of guiltless blood 

Stain their green reed-beds and pollute their flood ; 

Heard dying babes in wicker prisons wail, 

And shrieks of matrons thrill the affrighted gale ; 

While from dark caves infernal echoes mock, 

And fiends triumphant shout from every rock ! 

So still the nymphs emerging lift in air 

Their snow-white shoulders and their azure hair ; 

Sail with sweet grace the dimpling streams along, 

Listening the shepherd's or the miner's song ; 

But, when afar they view the giant cave, 

On timorous fins they circle on the wave; 

With streaming eyes and throbbing hearts recoil, 

Plunge their fair forms, and dive beneath the soil. 

Closed round their heads reluctant eddies sink, 

And wider rings successive dash the brink. 

Three thousand steps in sparry clefts they stray, 

Or seek through sullen mines their gloomy way ; 

On beds of lava sleep in coral cells, 

Or sigh o'er jasper fish, and agate shells. 

Till where famed ilam leads his boiling Roods 

Through flowery meadows and impending woods, 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



151 



Pleased with light spring they leave the dreary- 
night, 
And mid circumfluent surges rise to light ; 
Shake their bright locks, the widening vale pursue, 
Their sea-green mantles fringed with pearly dew ; 
In playful groups by towering thorp they move, 
Bound o'er the foaming wears, and rush into the 
Dove. 




£52 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



MEDEA AND HER CHILDREN. 



So when medea left her native soil 
Unawed by danger, unsubdued by toil; 
Her weeping sire and beckoning friends withstood^ 
And launcht enamor'd on the boiling flood ; 
One ruddy boy her gentle lips carest, 
And one fair girl was pillow'd on her breast ; 
While high in air the golden treasure burns, 
And love and glory guide the prow by turns. 
But, when Thessalia's inauspicious plain 
Received the matron-heroine from the main ; 
While horns of triumph sound, and altars burn. 
And shouting nations hail their chief's return ; 
Aghast, she saw new-cleckt the nuptial bed, 
And proud c reus a to the temple led ; 
Saw her in jason's mercenary arms 
Deride her virtues, and insult her charms ; 
Saw her dear babes from fame and empire torn ? 
In foreign realms deserted and forlorn j 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 153 

Her love rejected, and her vengeance braved, 
By him her beauties won, her virtues saved, — 
With stern regard she eyed the traitor-king, 
And felt, ingratitude ! thy keenest sting ; 
" Nor heaven/ 5 she cried, " nor earth, nor hell 

can hold 
" A heart abandon'd to the thirst of gold!" 
Stampt with wild foot, and shook her horrent brow, 
And call'd the furies from their dens below. 
—Slow out of earth, before the festive crowds, 
On wheels of fire, amid a night of clouds, 
Drawn by fierce fiends, arose a magic car, 
Received the queen, and hovering flamed in air. 
As with raised hands the suppliant traitors kneel, 
And fear the vengeance they deserve to feel, 
Thrice with parcht lips her guiltless babes she prest, 
And thrice she claspt them to her tortured breast; 
Awhile with white uplifted eyes she stood, 
Then plunged her trembling poniards in their blood. 
" Go, kiss your sire 1 go, share the bridal mirth l" 
She cry'd, and hurl'd their quivering limbs on earth. 
Rebellowing thunders rock the marble towers, 
And red-tongued lightnings shoot their arrowy 

showers ; 



154 



BOTANIC GARDEN* 



Earth yawns ! — the crashing ruin sinks !-*-o'er all 
Death with black hands extends his mighty pall ; 
Their mingling gore the fiends of vengeance quaff, 
And hell receives them with convulsive laugh. 




BOTANIC GARDEN, 155 



PALMIRA'S RUINS. 



So, \vhere palmira mid her wasted plains, 
Her shattered aqueducts, and prostrate fanes, 
(x\s the bright orb of breezy midnight pours 
Long* threads of silver through her gaping towers, 
O'er mouldering, tombs, and tottering columns 

gleams, 
And frosts her deserts with diffusive beams). 
Sad o'er the mighty wreck in silence bends, 
Lifts her wet eyes, her tremulous hands extends, 
If from lone cliffs a bursting rill expands 
Its transient course, and sinks into the sands ; 
O'er the moist rock the fell hysena prowls, 
The leopard hisses, and the panther growls ; 
On quivering wing the famisht vulture screams, 
Dips his dry beak, and sweeps the gushing streams; 
With foaming jaws, beneath, and sanguine tongue> 
Laps the lean wolf, and pants, and runs along; 



156 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



Stern stalks the lion, on the rustling brinks 
Hears the dread snake, and trembles as he drinks ; 
Quick darts the scaly monster o'er the plain, 
Fold after fold, his undulating train ; 
And bending o'er the lake his crested brow, 
Starts at the crocodile that gapes below. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 157 



POISON TREE. 



Where seas of glass with gay reflection smile 

Round the green coast of Java's palmy isle ; 

A spacious plain extends its upland scene, 

Rocks rise on rocks, and fountains gush between; 

Soft zephyrs blow, eternal summers reign, 

And showers prolific bless the soil, — in vain ! 

No spicy nutmeg scents the vernal gales, 

Nor towering plantain shades the mid-day vales j 

No grassy mantle hides the sable hills, 

No flowery chaplet crowns the trickling rills ; 

Nor tufted moss, nor leathery lichen creeps 

In russet tapestry o'er the crumbling steeps. 

No step retreating, on the sand imprest, 

Invites the visit of a seccnd guest ; 

No refluent fin the unpeopled stream divides, 

No revolant pinion cleaves the airy tides ; 

Nor handed moles, nor beaked worms return. 

That mining pass the irremeable bourn, — ■ 

Fierce in dread silence on the blasted heath 

Fell upas sits, the hydra-tree of death. 
o 



158 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Lo 1 from one root, the envenom'd soil below, 
A thousand vegetative serpents grow ; 
In shining rays the scaly monster spreads 
O'er ten square leagues his far-diverging heads ; 
Or in one trunk intwists his tangled form, 
Looks o'er the clouds, and hisses in the storm. 
Steept in fell poison, as his sharp teeth part, 
A thousand tongues in quick vibration dart ; 
Snatch the proud eagle towering o'er the heath, 
Or pounce the lion, as he stalks beneath ; 
Or strew, as marshall'd hosts contend in vain, 
With human skeletons the whiten'd plain, 
Chain'd at his root two scion-demons dwell, 
Breathe the faint hiss, or try the shriller yell ; 
Rise, fluttering in the air on callow wings, 
And aim at insect-prey their little stings. 
So time's strong arms with sweeping scythe erase 
Art's cumberous works, and empires, from their 

base : 
While each young hour its sickle fine employs, 
And crops the buds of sweet domestic joys ! 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 159 



LADY SHOT IN BATTLE. 



So stood Eliza on the wood-crown 'd height, 
O'er Minden's plain, spectatress of the fight > 
Sought with bold eye amid the bloody strife 
Her dearer self, the partner of her life ; 
From hill to hill the rushing host pursued, 
And view'd his banner, or believed she view'd. 
Pleased with the distant roar* with quicker tread 
Fast by his hand one lisping boy she led ; 
And one fair girl amid the loud alarm 
Slept on her kerchief, cradled by her arm ; 
While round her brows bright beams of honor 

dart, 
And love's warm eddies circle round her heart. 
Near and more near the intrepid beauty prest, 
Saw through the driving smoke his dancing crest; 
Saw on his helm, her virgin-hands inwove, 
Bright stars of gold, and mystic knots of love ; 
Heard the exulting shout, " they run ! they run !" 
« Great God !" she cried, " he's safe! the battle's 

won !" 



160 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

A ball now hisses through the airy tides, 
(Some fury wing'd it, and some demon guides !) 
Parts the fine locks her graceful head that deck, 
Wounds her fair ear, and sinks into her neck ; 
The red stream, issuing from her azure veins, 
Dyes her white veil, her ivory bosom stains. — 
" Ah me !" she cried, and, sinking on the ground, 
Kist her dear babes, regardless of the wound ; 
" Oh, cease not yet to beat, thou vital urn ! 
Wait, gushing life, oh, wait my love's return 1 
Hoarse barks the wolf, the vulture screams from 

far! 
The angel, pity, shuns the walks of war ! 
Oh, spare, ye war-hounds, spare their tender age ! 
On me, on me," she cried, " exhaust your rage !" 
Then with weak arms her weeping babes carest, 
And sighing, hid them in her blood-stain'd vest. 
From tent to tent the impatient warrior flies, 
Fear in his heart, and frenzy in his eyes ; 
Eliza's name along the camp he calls, 
Eliza echoes through the canvas walls ; 
Quick through the murmuring gloom his footsteps 

tread 
O'er groaning heaps, the dying and the dead, 
Vault o'er the plain, and in the tangled w6od, 
Lo ! dead Eliza weltering in her blood ! 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 161 

Soon hears his listening son the welcome sounds, 
With open arms and sparkling eyes he bounds ; 
" Speak low," he cries, and gives his little hand, 
" Eliza sleeps upon the dew-cold sand ; 
Poor weeping babe with bloody fingers prest, 
And tried with pouting lips her milkless breast ; 
Alas ! we both with cold and hunger quake — 
Why do you weep? — mamma will soon awake." 
" She'll wake no more !" the hopeless mourner 

cried, 
Upturn'd his eyes, and claspt his hands, and sigh'd; 
Stretcht on the ground awhile intranced he lay, 
And prest warm kisses on the lifeless clay ; 
And then upsprung with wild convulsive start, 
And all the father kindled in his heart ; 
" Oh, heavens," he cried, " my first rash vow for- 
give ! 
These bind to earth, for these I pray to live 1" 
Round his chill babes he wrapt his crimson vest, 
And claspt them sobbing to his aching breast. 

o 2 



162 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



PYTHIAN PRIESTESS. 



Avaunt ye vulgar ! from her sacred groves, 
With maniac step the pythian laura moves ; 
Full of the god her laboring bosom sighs, 
Foam on her lips, and fury in her eyes, 
Strong wreathe her limbs, her wild dishevellM hair 
Starts from her laurel-wreathe, and swims in air. 
While twenty priests the gorgeous shrine surround, 
Cinctured with ephods, and with garlands crown'd 
Contending hosts and trembling nations wait 
The firm immutable behests of fate ; 
She speaks in thunder from her golden throne, 
With words unwill'dy and wisdom not her own. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 163 



LAOCOON. 



Two harlot-nymphs, the fair cuscutas, please 
With labor'd negligence, and studied ease ; 
In the meek garb of modest worth disguised, 
The eye averted, and the smile chastised, 
With sly approach they spread their dangerous 

charms, 
And round their victim wind their wiry arms. 
So by Scamander when laocoon stood, 
Where Troy's proud turrets glitter'd in the flood, 
Raised high his arm, and with prophetic call, 
To shrinking realms announced her fated fall ; 
Whirl'd his fierce spear with more than mortal 

force, 
And pierced the thick ribs of the echoing horse ; 
Two serpent-forms incumbent on the main, 
Lashing the white waves with redundant train, 



164 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Archt their blue necks, and shook their towering 

crests, 
And plough'd their foamy way with speckled 

breasts ; 
Then, darting fierce amid the affrighted throngs, 
RolPd their red eyes, and shot their forked tongues. 
Two daring youths to guard the hoary sire, 
Thwart their dread progress, and provoke their ire, 
Round sire and sons the scaly monsters rolFd, 
Ring above ring, in many a tangled fold, 
Close and more close their writhing limbs surround, 
And fix with foamy teeth the envenom'd wound. 
With brow upturn'd to heaven 3 the holy sage 
In silent agony sustains their rage ; 
While each fond youth, in vain, with piercing cries, 
Bends on the tortured sire his dying eyes. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 165 



MOSES IN THE RUSHES. 



Where vast Ontario rolls his brineless tides, 
And feeds the trackless forests on his sides, 
Fair cassia, trembling, hears the howling woods, 
And trusts her tawny children to the floods. 
Cinctured with gold, while ten fond brothers stand, 
And guard the beauty on her native land ; 
Soft breathes the gale, the current gently moves, 
And bears to Norway's coasts her infant-loves. 
So the sad mother, at the noon of night, 
From bloody Memphis stole her silent flight ; 
Wrapt her dear babe beneath her folded vest, 
And claspt the treasure to her throbbing breast, 
With soothing whispers husht its feeble cry, 
Prest the soft kiss, and breathed the secret sigh. 
With dauntless step she seeks the winding shore 
Hears unappall'd the glimmering torrents roar ; 
With paper-flags a floating cradle weaves, 
And hides the smiling boy in lotus-leaves ; 



166 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



Gives her white bosom to his eager lips, 
The salt tears mingling with the milk he sips ; 
Waits on the reed-crown'd brink with pious guile, 
And trusts the scaly monsters of the Nile.— 
Ere while majestic from his lone abode, 
Embassador of heaven, the prophet trod ; 
Wrencht the red scourge from proud oppression's 

hands, 
And broke, curst slavery ! thy iron bands. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 167 



AFRICAN SLAVERY. 



Hark ! heard ye not that piercing cry, 
Which shook the waves, and rent the sky ?-— 

E'en now, e'en now, on yonder western shores, 
Weeps pale despair, and writhing anguish roars ; 
E'en now in Afric's groves with hideous yell 
Fierce slavery stalks, and slips the dogs of hell ; 
From vale to vale the gathering cries rebound, 

And sable nations tremble at the sound I 

Ye bands oe senators ! whose suffrage sways 
Britannia's realms, whom either Ind obeys ; 
Who right the injured, and reward the brave, 
Stretch your strong arm, for ye have power to save ! 
Throned in the vaulted heart, his dread resort, 
Inexorable conscience holds his court ; 
With still small voice the plots of guilt alarms, 
Bears his maskt brow, his lifted hand disarms ; 



168 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

But, wrapt in night with terrors all his own, 
He speaks in thunder, when the deed is done. 
Hear Mm, ye senates I hear this truth sublime, 
4i He, who allows oppression, shares the crime" 

" No radiant pearl, which crested fortune wears, 
No gem, that twinkling hangs from beauty's ears, 
Not the bright stars, which night's blue arch adorn, 
Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn, 
Shine with such lustre as the tear that flows 
Down virtue's manly cheek for others' woes/' 





botanic gardes. 16§ 



PROMETHEUS. 



So when prometheus braved the thunderer's ire, 
Stole from his blazing throne ethereal fire, 
And, lanter'd in his breast, from realms of day 
Bore the bright treasure to his man of clay :— -» 
High on cold Caucasus by vulcan bound, 
The lean impatient vulture fluttering round, 
His writhing limbs in vain he twists and strains 
To break or loose the adamantine chains. 
The gluttonous bird, exulting in his pangs, 
Tears his swoln liver with remorseless fangs, 



179 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



THE THREAD OF LIFE. 



So when with light and shade, concordant strife I 
Stern ciIotho weaves the checker'd thread of life ; 
Hour after hour the growing line extends, 
The cradle and the coffin bound its ends ; 
Soft cords of silk the whirling spoles reveal, 
If smiling fortune turn the giddy wheel ; 
But if sweet love with baby-fingers twines, 
And wets with dewy lips the lengthening lines* 
Skein after skein celestial tints unfold, 
And all the silken tissue shines with gold. - 






BOTANIC GARDEN. 



171 



MAID OF NIGHT AND FAIRIES, 



Nymph ! not for thee the radiant day returns, 
Nymph ! not for thee the golden solstice burns, 
Refulgent cere a! — at the dusky hour 
She seeks with pensive step the mountain-bower, 
Bright as the blush of rising morn, and warms 
The dull cold eye of midnight with her charms. 
There to the skies she lifts her penciPd brows, 
Opes her fair lips, and breathes her virgin vows ; 
Eyes the white zenith ; counts the suns that roll 
Their distant fires, and blaze around the pole ; 
Or marks where Jove directs his glittering car 
O'er heaven's blue vault,— herself a brighter star. 
There as soft zephyrs sweep with pausing airs 
Thy snowy neck, and part thy shadowy hairs, 
Sweet maid of night ! to Cynthia's sober beams 
Glows thy warm cheek, thy polisht bosom gleams. 
In crowds around thee gaze the admiring swains, 
And guard in silence the inchanted plains ; 



172 BOTANIC GARDEN, 

Drop the still tear, or breathe the impassioned sigh, 
And drink inebriate rapture from thine eye. 
Thus, when old Needwood's hoary scenes the night 
Paints with blue shadow, and with milky light ; 
Where mundy pour'd, the listening nymphs among, 
Loud to the echoing vales his parting song ; 
With measured step the fairy sovereign treads, 
Shakes her high plume, and glitters o'er the meads ; 
Round each green holly leads her sportive train, 
And little footsteps mark the circled plain ; 
Each haunted rill with silver voices rings, 
And night's sweet bird in livelier accents sings. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 173 



THE FIERY FURNACE, 



So when thy king, Assyria, fierce and proud, 

Three human victims to his idol vow'd ; 

Rear'd a vast pyre before the golden shrine 

Of sulphurous coal, and pitch-exsuding pine ; 

Loud roar the flames, the iron nostrils breathe, 

And the huge bellows pant and heave beneath ; 

Bright and more bright the blazing deluge flows, 

And, white with sevenfold heat, the furnace glows. 

And now the monarch fixt with dread surprise 

Deep in the burning vault his dazzled eyes. 

" Lo ! three unbound amid the frightful glare, 

Unscorcht their sandels, and unsinged their hairi 

And now a fourth with Seraph-beauty bright 

Descends, accosts them, and outshines the light ! 

Fierce flames innocuous, as they step, retire 1 

And slow they move amid a world of fire !" 

JTe spoke, — to heaven his arms repentant spread. 

And, kneeling, bow'd his p;em-incircied head, 
P2 



If BOTANIC GARDEN 



MERMAID. 



Amphibious nymph, from Nile's prolific bed, 
Emerging trapa lifts her pearly head ; 
Fair glows her virgin cheek and modest breast, 
A panoply of scales deforms the rest ; 
Her quivering fins and panting gills she hides, 
But spreads her silver arms upon the tides ; 
Slow as she sails, her ivory neck she laves, 
And shakes her golden tresses o ? er the waves ; 
Charm'd round the nymph, in circling gambols glide 
Four nereid-forms, or shoot along the tide j 
Now all as one they rise with frolic spring, 
And beat the wondering air on humid wing ; 
Now all descending plunge beneath the main, 
And lash the foam with undulating train ; 
Above, below, they wheel, retreat, advance, 
In air and ocean weave the mazy dance ; 
Bow their quick heads, and point their diamond eyes 
And twinkle to the sun with ever-changing dyes. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 175 



SONG TO ECHO. 



Two sister-nymphs, the fair avenas, lead, 
Their fleecy squadrons on the lawns of Tweed ; 
Pass with light step his wave-worn banks along, 
And wake his echoes with their silver tongue ; 
Or touch the reed, as gentle love inspires, 
In notes accordant to their chaste desires. 

I. 

" Sweet echo! sleeps thy vocal shell, 
Where this high arch o'erhangs the dell ; 
While Tweed with sun-reflecting streams 
Checkers thy rocks with dancing beams ?— 

II. 
Here may no clamors harsh intrude, 
No brawling hound or clarion rude ; 
Here no fell beast of midnight prowl, 
And teach thy tortured cliffs to howl! 



176 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



III. 



Be thine to pour these vales along 
Some artless shepherd's evening song ; 
While night ? s sweet bird, from yon high spray, 
Reponsive, listens to his lay, 

IV. 

And if, like me, some love-lorn maid 
Should sing her sorrows to thy shade, 
Oh, sooth her breast, ye rocks around I 
With softest sympathy of sound." 



From ozier bowers the brooding halcyons peep, 

The swans pursuing cleave the glassy deep, 

On hovering wings the wondering reed4arks play, 

And silent bitterns listen to the lay. — 

Three shepherd-s wains beneath the beechen shades 

Twine rival garlands for the tuneful maids ; 

On each smooth bark the mystic love-knot frame, 

Or on white sands inscribe the favor'd name. 

Green swells the beech, the widening knots improve, 

So spread the tender growths of living love ; 

Wave follows wave, the letter'd lines decay, 

So love's soft forms uncultured melt away. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 177 



CHILDREN AT PLAY. 



Spring ! with thy own sweet smile and tuneful 
tongue, 
Delighted bellis calls her infant throng. 
Each on his reed astride, the cherub-train 
Watch her kind looks, and circle o'er the plain ; 
Now with young wonder touch the sliding snail, 
Admire his eye-tipt horns, and painted mail ; 
Chase with quick step, and eager arms outspread, 
The pausing butterfly from mead to mead ; 
Or twine green ozlers with the fragrant gale? 
The azure harebel, and the primrose pale, 
Join hand in hand, and in procession gay 
Adorn with votive wreaths the shrine of May. 
So moves the goddess to the Idalian groves, 
And leads her gold-hair'd family of loves. 
These, from the flaming furnace, strong and bold? 
Pour the red steel in many a sandy mould ; 



178 



BOTANIC GARDEN* 



On tinkling anvils (with Vulcanian art) 

Turn with hot tongs, and forge the dreadful dart ; 

The barbed head on whirling jaspers grind, 

And dip the point in poison for the mind ; 

Each polisht shaft with snow-white plumage wing, 

Or strain the bow reluctant to its string. 

Those on light pinion twine with busy hands, 

Or stretch from bough to bough the flowery bands; 

Scare the dark beetle, as he wheels on high, 

Or catch in silken nets the gilded fly ; 

Call the young zephyrs to their fragrant bowers, 

And stay with kisses sweet the vernal hours, 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



HOT SPRINGS, 



179 



Where, as proud Masson rises rude and bleak, 
And with mishapen turrets crests the peak, 
Old Matlock gapes with marble jaws, beneath, 
And o'er scar'd Derwent bends his flinty teeth ; 
Deep in wide caves below the dangerous soil 
Blue sulphurs flame, imprison'd waters boil. 
Impetuous steams in spiral columns rise 
Through rifted rocks, impatient for the skies ; 
Or o'er bright seas of bubbling lavas blow, 
As heave and toss the billowy fires below ; 
Condensed on high, in wandering rills they glide 
From Masson's dome, and burst his sparry side ; 
Round his grey towers, and down his fringed w T all3, 
From cliff to cliff, the liquid treasure falls ; 
In beds of stalactite, bright ores among, 
O'er corals, shells, and crystals, winds along ; 
Crusts the green mosses, and the tangled wood, 
And sparkling plunges to its parent flood. 



ISO 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



O'er the warm wave a smiling youth presides* 
Attunes its murmurs, its meanders guides, 
(The blooming fucus) in her sparry coves 
To amorous echo sings his secret loves, 
Bathes his fair forehead in the misty stream, 
And with sweet breath perfumes the rising steam. 
So, erst, an angel o'er Bethesda's springs, 
Each morn descending, shook his dewy wings ; 
And as his bright translucent form he laves, 
Salubrious powers enrich the troubled waves. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 131 



MOUNTAIN NYMPH. 



Where Andes, crested with volcanic beams, 
Sheds a long line of light on Plata's streams ; 
Opes all his springs, unlocks his golden caves, 
And feels and freights the immeasurable waves ; 
Delighted ocyma at twilight hours 
Calls her light car, and leaves the sultry bowers ; 
Love's rising ray, and youth's seductive dye, 
Bioom'd on her cheek 5 and brighten'd in her eye ; 
Chaste, pure, and white, a zone of silver graced 
Her tender breast, as white, as pure, as chaste ; 
By four fond swains in playful circles drawn, 
On glowing wheels she tracks the moon-bright lawn, 
Mounts the rude cliff, unveils her blushing charms, 
And calls the panting zephyrs to her arms. 
Emerged from ocean springs the vaporous air, 
Bathes her light limbs, uncurls her amber hair, 
Incrusts her beamy form with films saline, 
And beauty blazes through the crystal shrine. 



182 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



So with pellucid studs the ice -Rower gems 
Her rimy foliage, and her candied stems. 
So from his glassy horns, and pearly eyes, 
The diamond-beetle darts a thousand dyes ; 
Mounts with enamel'd wings the vesper gale, 
And wheeling shines in adamantine mail. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 183 



/ 



LOT'S WIFE. 



Thus when loud thunders o'er Gomorrah burst, 
And heaving earthquakes shook his realms accurst, 
An angel-guest led forth the trembling fair 
With shadowy hand, and warn'd the guiltless pair. 
" Haste from these lands of sin, ye righteous ! fly, 
Speed the quick step, nor turn the lingering eye !" 
Such the command, as fabling bards recite, 
When Orpheus charm'd the grisly king of night ; 
Sooth'd the pale phantoms with his plaintive lay, 
And led the fair assurgent into day.- — 
Wide yawn'd the earth, the fiery tempest flasht, 
And towns and towers in one vast ruin crash!;— 
Onward they move, — loud horror roars behind, 
And shrieks of anguish bellow in the wind. 
With many a sob, amid a thousand fears, 
The beauteous wanderer pours her gushing tears ; 
Each soft connection rends her troubled breast, — 
She turns, unconscious of the stern behest ! — 



184 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



" I faint 1—1 fall 1 — ah, me — sensations chill 
Shoot through my bone s, my shuddering bosom thrill S 
I freeze ! I freeze I just heaven regards my fault, 
Numbs my cold limbs, and hardens into salt! 
Not yet, not yet, your dying love resign! — 
This last, last kiss receive ! — no longer thine! — " 
She said, and ceased, — her stiffen'd form he prest s 
And strain'd the briny column to his breast ; 
Printed with quivering lips the lifeless snow, 
-And wept, and gazed the monument of woe. 
So when ..Eneas through the flames of Troy 
Bore his pale sire, and led his lovely boy, 
With loitering step the fair Creusa stay'd, 
And death involved her in eternal shade. — > 
Oft the lone pilgrim, that his road forsakes, 
Marks the wide ruins, and the sulphur'd lakes ; 
On mouldering piles amid asphaltic mud, 
Hears the hoarse bittern, where Gomorrah stood ; 
Recals the unhappy pair with lifted eye, 
Leans on the chrystal tomb, and breathes the silent 
si^h. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 185 



DEJANIRA IN THE LION'S SKIN. 



With net-wove sash and glittering gorget drest, 
And scarlet robe lapell'd upon her breast, 
Stern ara frowns, the measured march assumes, 
Trails her long lance, and nods her shadowy plumes; 
While love's soft beams illume her treacherous eyes, 
And beauty lightens through the thin disguise. 
So erst, when hercules, untamed by toil, 
Own'd the soft power of bejanira's smile »«-^ 
His lion-spoils the laughing fair demands, 
And gives the distaff to his awkward hands ; 
O'er her white neck the bristly mane she throws, 
And binds the gaping whiskers on her brows ; 
Plaits round her slender waist the shaggy vest, 
And clasps the velvet paws across her breast. 
Next with soft hands the knotted club she rears, 
Heaves up from earth, and on her shoulder bears. 
Onward with loftier step the beauty treads, 
And trails the brinded ermine o'er the meads ; 
Wolves, bears and pards forsake the affrighted groves^ 
And grinning satyrs tremble as she moves. 
Q.2 



BOTANIC GARDEK. 



NYMPHS IX THE TORRID ZONE, 



When fro it icn urn the solstice pours 

O'er Afric's sable sons die sultry hours ; 
When not z o'er her tawny hi!" 

Save where the dry harmattan breathes and k 
When str^tcht in dus: hers lie, 

And writhed in foamy folds her serpents 
Indignant Atlas n i leafless 

And Gambia tremt g floods ; 

Contagi od, 

And ocean rolls his sickening shoals to land. — 
Fair chuxda smiles amid the burning waste, 
Her 1: a ? d, and her zone unbraced ; 

Ten brotJ ' i shade, 

Or fan with ' . maid ; 

Loose wave her locks, disclosing as they break, 

md her i T 
i icr thin ve 



30TAKIC GARDEK. Mf 



NIGHTINGAI D ROSE. 



vie dias ires, 

» compassion mo 
damsel to illicit Ic 

ide, 

i 

. bowels 
On quivering pin:: srs ; 

Inhales her fragrance, as he hangs in 

Half-rose, half- eous monster springs, 

Long h: ;.- legs su: 

od ; 
j his wri read, 

beaks in . :. 

e ! — 



183 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



Admiring evening stays her beamy star, 
And still night listens from his ebon car ; 
While on white wings descending houries throng, 
And drink the floods of odor and of song. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 189 



MAGIC OF BEAUTY AND MUSIC. 



Cold from a thousand rocks, where Ganges leads 
The gushing waters to his sultry meads ; 
By moon-crown'd mosques with gay rejections glides, 
And vast pagodas trembling on his sides ; 
With sweet loquacity nelumbo sails, 
Shouts to his shores, and parleys with his gales ; 
Invokes his echoes, as she moves along, 
And thrills his ripling surges with her song— 
As round the nymph her listening lovers play, 
And guard the beauty on her watery way ; 
Charm'd on the brink relenting tygers gaze, 
And pausing buffaloes forget to graze ; 
Admiring elephants forsake their woods, 
Stretch their wide ears, and wade into the floods ; 
In silent herds the wondering sea-calves lave, 
Or nod their slimy foreheads o'er the wave ; 
Poised on still wing attentive vultures sweep, . 
And winking crocodiles are lulPd to sleep. 



190 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



PALACE OF THE GNOMES. 



Deep, in wide caverns and their shadowy ailes, 
Daughter of earth, the chaste truffelia smiles ; 
On silvery beds, of soft asbestus wove, 
Meets her gnome-husband, and avows her love.— 
High o'er her couch impending diamonds blaze, 
And branching gold the crystal roof inlays ; 
With verdant light the modest emeralds glow, 
Blue sapphires glare, and rubies blush, be low ; 
Light piers of lazuli the dome surround, 
And pictured mochoes tesselate the ground ; 
In glittering threads along reflective walls 
The warm rill murmuring, twinkles as it falls ; 
Now sink the eolian strings, and now they swell, 
And echoes woo in every vaulted cell ; 
While on white wings delighted cupids play, 
Shake their bright lamps, and shed celestial day. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 19* 



LAPLAND SCENE, 



Where leads the northern star his lucid train 
High o'er the snow-clad earth, and icy main, 
With milky light the white horizon streams, 
And to the moon each sparkling mountain gleams. 
Slow o'er the printed snows with silent walk 
Huge shaggy forms across the twilight stalk ; 
And ever and anon with hideous sound 
Burst the thick ribs of ice, and thunder round.—- 
There, as old winter flaps his hoary wing, 
And lingering leares his empire to the spring, 
Pierced with qi ick shafts of silver-shooting light 
Fly in dark troops the dazzled imps of night.— 
" Awake, my love 1" enamor'd muschus cries, 
Stretch thy fair limbs , refulgent maid ! arise ; 
Ope thy sweet eye-lids to the rising ray, 
And hail with ruby lips returning day. 
Down the white hills dissolving torrents pour, 
Green springs the turf, and purple blows the flower y 



192 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



His torpid wing the rail exulting tries, 
Mounts the soft gales, and wantons in the skies $ 
Rise, let us mark how bloom the waken'd groves, 
And mid the banks of roses hide our loves." 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 19 S 



VENTUROUS LOVERS. 



Night's tinsel beams on smooth Lock-lomond 
dance, 
Impatient jega views the bright expanse ; 
In vain her eyes the passing floods explore, 
Wave after wave rolls freightless to the shore.— 
Now dim amid the distant foam she spies 
A rising speck, — " tis he ! tis he I" she cries; 
As with firm arms he beats the streams aside, 
And cleaves with rising chest the tossing tide, 
With bended knee she prints the humid sands, 
Up-turns her glistening eyes, and spreads her hands ; 
" Tis he, tis he ; — my lord, my life, my love 1 
Slumber, ye winds; ye billows, cease to move ! 
Beneath his arms your buoyant plumage spread, 
Ye swans! ye halcyons ! hover round his head !"— 
With eager step the boiling surf she braves, 
And meets her refluent lover in the waves ; 
Loose o'er the flood her azure mantle swims, 
And the clear stream betrays her snowy limbs.-— 

R 



194 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

So on her sea-girt tower fair hero stood 
At parting day, and markt the dashing flood ; 
While high in air, the glimmering rocks above. 
Shone the bright lamp, the pilot-star of love. 
With robe outspread the wavering flame behind 
She kneels, and guards it from the shifting wind ; 
Breathes to her goddess all her vows, and guides 
Her bold leander o'er the dusky tides ; 
Wrings his wet hair, his briny bosom warms, 
And clasps her panting lover in her arms. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 195 



SYLPH LOVER. 



Closed in an azure fig, by fairy spells, 
Bosom'd in down, fair capri-fica dwells ;— 
So sleeps in silence the curculio, shut 
In the dark chambers of the cavern'd nut, 
Erodes with ivory beak the vaulted shell, 
And quits, on filmy wings, its narrow cell. 
So the pleased linnet, in the moss- wove nest, 
Waked into life beneath its parent's breast, 
Chirps in the gaping shell, bursts forth erelong, 
Shakes its new plumes, and tries its tender song.— * 
And now the talisman she strikes, that charms 
Her husband-sylph, — and calls him to her arms.— 
Quick, the light gnat her airy lord bestrides, 
"With cobweb reins the flying courser guides, 
From crystal steeps of viewless ether springs, 
Cleaves the soft air on still expanded wings ; 
Darts like a sun-beam o'er the boundless wave ? 
And seeks the beauty in her secret cave. 



136 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



So with quick impulse through all nature's frame, 
Shoots the electric air its subtle flame. 
So turns the impatient needle to the pole, 
Though mountains rise between, and oceans roll. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. 197 



MARINE CAVE. 



Where round the Orcades white torrents roar, 
Scooping with ceaseless rage the incumbent shore, 
Wide o'er the deep a dusky cavern bends 
Its marble arms, and high in air impends ; 
Basaltic piers the ponderous roof sustain, 
And steep their massy sandals in the main ; 
Round the dim walls, and through the whispering 

ailes, 
Hoarse breathes the wind, the glittering water boils. 
Here the charm'd byssus, with his blooming bride, 
Spreads his green sails, and braves the foaming tide j 
The star of Venus gilds the twilight wave, 
And lights her votaries to the secret cave ; 
Light Cupids flutter round the nuptial bed, 
And each coy sea-maid hides her blushing head. 



198 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



ASSOCIATE LOVERS. 



A hundred virgins join a hundred swains, 
And fond adonis leads the sprightly trains ; 
Pair after pair, along his sacred groves 
To Hymen's fane the bright procession moves ; 
Each smiling youth a myrtle garland shades, 
And wreaths of roses veil the blushing maids ; 
Light joys on twinkling feet attend the throng, 
Weave the gay dance, or raise the frolic song ; 
Thick, as they pass, exulting Cupids fling 
Promiscuous arrows from the sounding string ; 
On wings of gossamer soft whispers fly, 
And the sly glance steals side-long from the eye. 
As round his shrine the gaudy circles bow, 
And seal with muttering lips the faithless vow, 
Licentious Hymen joins their mingled hands, 
And loosely twines the meretricious bands. 
Thus where pleased venus, in the southern main, 
Sheds all her smiles on Gtaheite's plain, 
Wide o'er the isle her silken net she draws, 
And the loves laugh at all but nature's laws. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. \99 



PROTEUS LOVER. 



Where cool'd by rills, and curtauvd round by 
woods, 
Slopes the green dell to meet the briny floods, 
The sparkling noon-beams trembling on the tide, 
The proteus-lover wooes his playful bride, 
To win the fair he tries a thousand forms, 
Basks on the sands, or gambols in the storms. 
A dolphin now, his scaly sides he laves, 
And bears the sportive damsel on the waves ; 
She strikes the cymbal as he moves along, 
And wondering ocean listens to the song. 
And now a spotted pard the lover stalks, 
Plays round her steps, and guards her favor'd walks $ 
As with white teeth he prints her hand, carest, 
And lays his velvet paw upon her breast, 
O'er his round face her snowy fingers strain 
The silken knots, and fit the ribbon-rein. 



200 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

And now a swan, he spreads his plumy sails, 
And proudly glides before the fanning gales ; 
Pleased on the flowery brink, with graceful hand. 
She waves her floating lover to the land ; 
Bright shines his sinuous neck, with crimson beak 
He prints fond kisses on her glowing cheek, 
Spreads his broad wings, elates his ebon crest, 
And clasps the beauty to his downy breast. 




BOTANIC GARDEN. £01 



GOLDEN AGE. 



No more shall hoary Boreas, issuing forth 
With Eurus, lead the tempest of the north ; 
Rime the pale dawn, or veil'd in flaky showers.. 
Chill the sweet bosoms of the smiling hours. 
By whispering Auster waked shall Zephyr rise, 
Meet with soft kiss, and mingle in the skies, 
Fan the gay floret, bend the yellow ear, 
And rock the uncurtain'd cradle of the year ; 
Autumn and spring in lively union blend, 
And from the skies the golden age descend. 



202 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



RIVER NILE, 



Sailing in air, when dark Monsoon inshrouds 
His tropic mountains in a night of clouds ; 
Or drawn by whirlwinds from the line returns, 
And showers 6'er Afric all his thousand urns ; 
High o'er his head the beams of sirius glow, 
And, dog of Nile, anubis, barks below. 
Nymphs ! you from cliff to cliff attendant guide, 
In headlong cataracts the impetuous tide ; 
Or lead o'er wastes of Abyssinian sands 
The bright expanse to Egypt's shower-less lands, 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 203 



MEDICINAL SPRINGS. 



Where with soft fires in unextinguisht urns, 
Caldron'd in rock, innocuous lava burns ; 
On the bright lake your gelid hands distil 
In pearly showers the parsimonious rill ; 
And, as aloft the curling vapors rise 
Through the cleft roof, ambitious for the skies, 
In vaulted hills condense the tepid steams, 
And pour to health the medicated streams. 
So in green vales, amid her mountains bleak, 
Buxtonia smiles, the goddess-nymph of Peak ; 
Deep in warm waves, and pebbly baths she dwells, 
And calls hygeia to her sainted wells. 



204 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



STEEL. 



Hail, adamantine steel I magnetic lord I 
King of the prow, the plowshare and the sword 1 
True to the pole, by thee the pilot guides 
His steady helm amid the struggling tides, 
Braves with broad sail the immeasurable sea, 
Cleaves the dark air, and asks no star but thee. 
By thee the ploughshare rends the matted plain, 
Inhumes in level rows the living grain ; 
Intrusive forests quit the cultured ground, 
And Ceres laughs with golden fillets crown'd.— 
O'er restless realms when scowling discord flings 
Her snakes, and loud the din of battle rings; 
Expiring strength, and vanquisht courage feel 
Thy arm resistless, adamantine steel ! 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 205 



SYMPATHY. 



So should young sympathy, in female form, 
Climb the tall rock, spectatress of the storm ; 
Life's sinking wrecks with secret sighs deplore, 
And bleed for others' woes, herself on shore ; 
To friendless virtue, gasping on the strand, 
Bare her warm heart, her virgin arms expand, 
Charm with kind looks, with tender accents cheer. 
And pour the sweet consolatory tear ; 
Grief's cureless wounds with lenient balms assuage, 
Or prop with firmer staff the steps of age ; 
The lifted arm of mute despair arrest, 
And snatch the dagger pointed at his breast ; 
Or lull to slumber envy's haggard mien, 
And rob her quiver d shafts with hand unseen — 



206 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

Sound nymphs of helicon I the trump of fame. 
And teach hibernian echoes jones's* name ; 
And round her polisht brow the civic bay> 
And drag the fair philanthropist to day. — 
So from secluded springs, and secret caves, 
Her Liffy pours his bright meandering waves, 
Cools the parcht vale, the sultry meads divides, 
And towns and temples star his shadowy sides; 



* A young lady who devotes a great part of an am- 
ple fortune to well-chosen acts of secret charity. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 207 



HANNIBAL. 



So when proud Rome the Afric warrior braved, 
And high on Alps his crimson banner waved ; 
While rocks on rocks their beetling brows oppose 
With piny forests, and unfathom'd snows ; 
Onward he marcht, to Latium's velvet ground, 
With fires and acids burst the obdurate bound, 
Wide o'er the weeping vales destruction hurl'd ? 
And shook the rising empire of the world, 



208 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



ST. PETER IN PRISON. 






Thus when an an gel-form, in light array 'd, 
Like howard pierced the prison's noisome shade ; 
Where chain'd to earth, with eyes to heaven upturn'd, 
The kneeling saint in holy anguish mourn'd ;— 
Ray'd from his lucid vest, and halo'd brow, 
O'er the dark roof celestial lustres glow, 
" Peter, arise 1" with cheering voice he calls, 
And sounds seraphic echo round the walls ; 
Locks, bolts, and chains his potent touch obey, 
And pleased, he leads the exulting sage to day. 






BOTANIC GARDEN. 209 



STEAM ENGINE. 



Ntmprs ! you erewhile on simmering caldrons 
play'd, 
And caird delighted Savei-y to your aid ; 
Bade round the youth explosive steam aspire, 
In gathering clouds, and wing'd the wave with lire; 
Bade with cold streams the quick expansion stop, 
And sunk the immense of vapor to a drop. — 
Prest by the ponderous air the piston falls 
Resistless, sliding through its iron walls ; 
Quick moves the balanced beam of giant-birth, 
Wields his large limbs, and, nodding, shakes the 

earth. 

The giant-power from earth's remotest caves 

Lifts with strong arm her dark reluctant waves; 

Each cavem'd rock, and hidden den explores, 

S her dark coals, and digs her shining ores.-— 

xt, in close cells of ribbed oak confm'd, 

Gale after gale, he crouds the strugglingwind ; 
s 2 



f 



210 BOTANIC GAKDEN. 

The imprison'd storms through brazen nostrils roar. 
Fan the white flame, and fuse the sparkling ore. 
Here high in air the rising stream he pours 
To clay -built cisterns, or to lead-lined towers ; 
Fresh through a thousand pipes the wave distils, 
And thirsty cities drink the exuberant rills. 
There the vast mill-stone, with inebriate whirl, 
On trembling floors his forceful fingers twirl, 
Whose flinty teeth the golden harvests grind, 
Feast without blood I and nourish human kind. 
Now his hard hands on Mona's rifted crest, 
Bosom'd in rock, her azure ores arrest ; 
With iron lips his rapid rollers seize 
The lengthening bars, in thin expansion squeeze ; 
Descending screws with ponderous fly-wheels wound 
The tawney plates, the new medallions round y 
Hard dyes of steel the cupreous circles cramp, 
And with quick fall his massy hammers stamp. 
Soon shall thy arm, unconquer^d steam ! afar 
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car ; 
Or on wide-waving wings expanded 
The flying-chariot through the fields of air. 
Fair crews triumphant, leaning from above, 
Shall wave their fluttering kerchiefs as they move ; 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



211 



Or warrior bands alarm the gaping croud, 
And armies shrink beneath the shadowy cloud* 




212 BOTANIC GARDEN. 



CONCLUSION, 



Here ceased the goddess, — o'er the silent strings 
Applauding zephyrs swept their fluttering wings ; 
Enraptured sylphs arose in murmuring crowds 
To air-wove canopies and pillowy clouds ; 
Each gnome reluctant sought his earthy cell, 
And each chill floret closed her velvet bell. 
Then, on soft tiptoe, night approaching near 
Hung o'er the tuneless lyre his sable ear ; 
Gem'd with bright stars the still ethereal plain 
And bade his nightingales repeat the strain. 



CONTENTS. 

page. 

Genius of the groves - - - - 5 

Descent of the botanic goddess - - - 9 

Creation - - - •- - - 12 

Fire nymph's employ - - - . 13 

Venus visiting Vulcan - - - - - 15 

Memnon's statue ----- -16 

Gunpowder -------17 

Franklin disarms the tempest - - - 18 

Labors of Hercules - - - - - 19 

Electricity - 21 

Wounded whale 23 

Jupiter and Semele - - - - - 24 

Prophet Elijah - ----- 25 

Birth of Venus 21 

Fire- works - - - - - - - 28 

Gnomes ..---- -29 

Salt-mines - -- ~ - - - 31 

Mars and Venus ----- - 33 

Precious gems ----- 35 

Franklin - - - - - - - 36 

Liberty - 37 

Jupiter's amors 39 

Slave trade -.---- - 4 i 

Alpine rivers - - - - - - 42 

Cambyses' army destroyed - - 43 

Death of Adonis ------ 47 

Fairies bathing ----- - 49 

Jupiter and Juno - - - - - - 51 

Circulation of the blood - - - 54 

Water nymphs ------ 55 

Milcena's tomb - - - - - - 57 

Dreadful effects of fire ... - - 60 



214 CONTENDS. 

Maternal love 63 

Hercules and Achelous - - - - 6$ 

Caravans in the desart - 67 

Skaiting - - - - - - - - 68 

Sylphs purifying the air - - 69 

Thyrsis and iEgle - - - - - - 71 

J)eath of Rosiere ----- 75 

toiving bell - - - - - - - 77 

Sylphs of music ------ 79 

Destruction of the assyrian army - - - 81 

Rape of Proserpine - - 83 

Destruction and resuscitation of the universe - 84 

Air destroyed and reproduced - - 85 
Vegetable loves ------ 87 

The crocodile - - 89 

Ascent of the botanic goddess - - 90 

Aaron's rod - - - - - - - 91 

Diana's silver tree - - - - - 92 

Address to the sylphs ----- 93 

Invocation ------ -95 

Desdemona ------- 97 

Eolian harp ------ -98 

Ninon de L'Enclos - - - - - 99 

The vane - - - - - -101 

Nymph in full dress - - - - - 102 

The giant Ilex - - . - - - 103 
Iheamazon ------- 105 

The dormouse - - - - - -106 

Georgian star - - - - - -107 

Whale at play ----- - 10g 

Sensitive plant - - - - - -109 

Palace of a sea-nymph - - - - - 110 

Mountain night scene - - - - " 1 1 1 

Lovers' prayer - - - - ~ -112 

Sensibility - - - - - - - 113 

Medea and iEson - - - - - - 115 

Approaching tempest - - - - - 116 

Galatea riding on the waves - - - - 117 



CONSENTS. 215 

Lady frozen to a statue 119 

Air balloon - -121 

Varying colors of the sky - - - -123 

Transcience of beauty - - - - - 1 24 

Discovery of paper - - 125 

Nebuchadnezzar transformed - - - 128 

The timepiece - 129 

The sorceress - - . - - - 131 

St. Anthony's sermon to frshes ... 133 

Frost scene ...... - 135 

Moses striking the rock - ' - - - 136 

Peruvian bark - - - - - 137 

Nymphs at tea - 140 

Song to May -- - • --14 1 
Howard - . - - - .-143 

Witch and imps ----- - 145 

Nightmare. - - - - - ~ - 147 

Thor's cave - - - - - 149 

Medea and her children - - 152 

Palmira's ruins - - - - - - 1 55 

Poison tree - - - - - 157 

Lady shot in battle - • 159 

Pythean priestess 162 

Laocoon . . . - „ . lo3 

Moses in the rushes - - - ~ 165 

African slavery . « • . - -167 
Prometheus " - . - » . ..169 
Maid of night and fairies - . - ^. 17 1 
The fiery furnace - . . . - 173 

Mermaid - . . n^ 

Song to echo . . . - - 175 

Children at play . - . . . 177 

Hot springs - . . . . - 179 

Mountain nymph - - - . . -181 

Jf ts wife - 183 

Dejanira 111 the lion's skin - - . 185 

Nymphs in the torrid zone - . .* . 155 
Nightingale and rose - '. - - 187 



216 CONSENT'S. 

Magic of beauty and music - - - 1 89 

Palace of the gnomes - - 190 

Lapland scene - - - - • 191 

Venturous lovers - - - 1 93 

Sylph lover -- - - - -.195 

Marine cave - - - - - 197 

Associate lovers - - • - - -198 
Proteus lover - .199 

Golden age 201 

EiverNile - - - - - - - 202 

Medicinal springs - . 203 

Steel *. 204 

Sympathy ----- - - 205 

Hannibal . 207 

St Peter in prison ------ 208 

Steam engine - - - 209 

Conclusion ------- 212 



THE END. 




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